The Bookshop Owner
by imgilmoregirl
Summary: Modern Days AU: Neal takes his father to a bookshop in London so they could see if his old girlfriend Belle still works there, but they find someone they weren't expecting to see there.
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon A Time or any of the characters and storylines in the show. This is just a fanwork made for fun._**

 _This came up while I was writing the next chapter of The Dark Lady and when I saw I already had the whole thing written. I have a real problem with Rumbelle family AU's, someone needs to stop me. But, I hope you all like this._

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There were a lot of things that Neal Gold didn't knew about his father, but ever since they arrived London, he was completely sure about what was passing through his mind. He still remembered that one summer, almost seventeen years ago, when he was around six and they came to this city to have a break from Scotland after their parents' divorce.

It had been a shock when Milah told her husband that she was leaving with her lover, an irish man called Killian Jones. For whole six months, Adam Gold had been really mad, trying to be the best father he could while still working as a lawyer. A year passed before he decided that they needed a vacation and they ended up playing the tourists around Notting Hill.

That summer his father met Belle French. She was a beautiful nineteen-year-old girl who worked in a little bookshop in Chelsea, exactly twenty years younger than Adam, but that didn't prevent them from falling in love and having a torrid affair during the weeks they spend there. Everything happened very quickly, after their first visit to the bookshop he asked her out for a movie with them and suddenly she was around all the time, until Adam and Neal needed to go back home.

His father's heart broke when he had to left Belle behind, saying that he unfortunately wasn't willing to try a long-distance relationship. Now, they were back there and by the sad look in Adam's eyes Neal could tell that his father was remembering everything and regretting what he did.

That was the truly reason that he was leading his father through the british streets to the old bookshop.

"Wait." Gold said when he recognised the route. "Neal, tell me that we are not going where I think we are."

Neal smiled. "Papa it has been almost seventeen years, we don't even know if she even still works there."

Leaning on his cane, Gold took a deep breath. He had a bad knee since he suffered an accident some years ago. "This is not a good idea." He said, wanting more than anything to get in a cab and go back to the hotel. "I don't want to go there."

"Come on, papa. If she still works there, we ran off and I pay for lunch."

"Neal - "

"Don't be a coward. I bet she doesn't even remember you anymore."

"Oh, thanks for letting clear that I am not a remarkable person."

Laughing, they crossed the street to find the same bookshop, painted in the same light mint tone, as if the time hadn't passed. Both father and son entered it, looking around at the filled shelves with all kinds of books waiting to be bought. Adam didn't walk too much, he just stood near the door, pretending to have a bigger interest in blue-covered copy while Neal explored the shop.

His memories from the last time he had been there were vague, as he was only a child in that time and now he was twenty-two.

"Can I help you?" A boy asked behind the counter.

"Yeah." Neal decided to say, glancing at his father before making a quick decision. "Can you tell me if a brunette australian woman called Belle French still works here?"

Blinking the boy nodded behind his glasses. "She is the owner now, but she is sick, so I am covering for her." He answered. "I'm Gideon French, her son."

"Her son?" Neal swallowed. "How old are you boy?"

Gideon shrugged. "Sixteen."

"Who is your father?"

"What kind of question is this?"

"Neal?" Gold walked towards them and he looked between his father and the boy, the similarities too evident to be ignored. "Who is this?"

"Good morning, sir. My name is Gideon French, do you need my help to find any book?"

Adam Gold's eyes widened and when they met Neal's, his son just nodded, confirming that he also thought that this boy, Belle French's son was also his.

"Is Miss French around?" Gold asked.

"No, she is sick." Gideon repeated mechanically before narrowing his eyes with a puzzled look in his face. "How do you two know my mother?"

"We - " Gold breathed in, thinking that this couldn't be happening with him. "We dated. Around seventeen years ago."

Something appeared to click inside Gideon's mind. He remembered the histories his mother used to tell him when he was a child, before he stopped asking for them, because he decided that his father was someone whose tales wasn't worth hearing, but looking at the old man in front of him, the boy only saw someone broken. "You are the scottish."

"She told you about me." He said in surprise.

"Yeah, she did and even though she had only said good things about you, all I can feel is that you are the coward that abandoned your pregnant girlfriend."

"Wait there, kid! He never knew that she was pregnant." Neal interrupted, before looking at his father in doubt for a moment. "You didn't, right?"

"Of course not!"

The little bell in the shop's front door jingled when it was open by a beautiful brunette, dressed in a blue coat. "Gideon, sweetie, I brought you lunch from - " She said with her back turned to them, while she closed the door, a paper bag in one of her hands, letting the phrase die when her eyes landed in the two man she never expected to see in there. "Oh, my God!"

"Belle!"

"Adam!"

Gideon came from behind the counter placing a protective arm around her shoulders, one hand coming to check the temperature of her face. "Mother, you should be resting, you were burning in fever when I left home this morning."

"I'm okay."

Gold approached them. "Belle, this is - " he couldn't complete the sentence, he was too busy looking at his gorgeous lost lover and the boy had held her, whose features were so alike his that he could already have the certain that he had helped conceiving him, but he tried again: "This is our - "

"Son." She finished, a sad smile in her lips. "Yes, he is."

From where he was still standing, watching the whole scene, Neal muttered: "Whoa, the secrets from the London's bookshop owner. We have a great book title if we want to write one."

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 _ **Author's Note:** My apologize if there is something wrong with my writing. English is not my first language._


	2. Chapter 2

Gideon French never had a father. While all his friends spent their childhoods been taken by their papas to football games, and all those sort of father and son things, he spent his days inside the same old bookshop, reading and watching his mother work. Belle was a beautiful young woman, who always got asked out by a lot of the men who entered the shop, but she never said yes.

Her short affair with the scottish man that was Gideon's father, was something that had teached her to not get involved with her clients, she always said. This was an old story he used to hear, since he was very little. How Adam Gold and his six-year-old son appeared in the bookshop, how they spent the afternoon there and Belle felt like she had never known somebody like that lawyer before, then how they started to go out that same night. Eventually, he came back to his country, leaving her pregnant with his baby. With Gideon.

During all of his life, the boy had thought about his father as a completely scoundrel, who had ruined his mother's life, forcing her to drop off college to take care a child she shouldn't be having. Of course, Belle never complained, all she ever did was to love her son, devoting to him each day since he was born. That was why he felt like he had the duty of taking care of her, his mother was too good and she deserved the whole world.

Standing between the shelves, with his mother, his father and his half-brother, all Gideon wanted to do was to take Belle and run very far away from there. Whenever he imagined the scottish man, his image of him was anything but what he really found that day. The boy knew that Adam and Belle had a big age difference, but he never expected it to be so big; that guy seemed to be at least twenty years older than his mother. He couldn't even start to explain how he felt weird with that.

"Neal! Whoa, you are so grown! The last time I saw you, you were only a little boy."

The younger man walked towards them and Gideon was forced to release Belle, to let him hug her.

"Well, the last time I saw you, you looked like you could easily be my oldest sister. Not that you don't look like it now, but you have a son!" Neal pulled away and tapped a hand on Gideon's shoulder. "God! I have a brother! I always wanted to have a brother."

Gold kept staring at them during the whole time, with eyes filled with such a sadness, that Gideon couldn't stand anymore. He suggested to take his mother home, so he could take her away from those two strangers, and make her take her medicines, but both Adam and Neal didn't seem willing to let them go so easily. The older man offered to take them to a restaurant, so they all could have lunch together.

"Adam, I know that we need to talk, but - " Belle started.

"But she is sick and we are going home for lunch." Gideon finished.

The expression in Gold's face only got sadder. Neal, anyway wasn't going to give up on that. "What if we go to your house? A long talk is really needed in here."

Belle nodded. "I think it could work."

That was how they ended up in a cab to their flat. Gideon was feeling angry and whispered to his mother, when they were accommodated in the backseat of the car: "What do you think you are doing? Mama, you can't take the guy who abandoned you to our home!"

"I owe him an apologize."

"No, this is him who should apologize to you! This guy never cared about us."

"He never knew that I was pregnant, Gid!"

"Yeah, but what would you think of me if I became the kind of man who have summer affairs with innocent girls that have half of my age and then leave them behind after using them?"

Neal cleared his throat. "You know that I can actually hear what you are saying, right?"

Gideon's cheeks flushed a little and he glanced at his own hands, not knowing what else to say and not wanting to apologize to his half-brother, for the things he said. Neal may have had a father while growing up that supported him and loved him, but he didn't.

"Believe me, kid, if papa knew about you he would have never let you go."

In the front seat of the car, Gold pretended to not hear the whispers between his sons and Belle. When they arrived the flat, he paid for the cab and let his old girlfriend take them inside. Gideon made sure to always have a protective and possessive arm around his mother's shoulders. They got the elevator and went to the small apartment.

With trembling hands, Belle opened the door to let them in.

"Chinese food?" Neal asked immediately.

"Sure." The woman answered looking for her phone. "I know a great place to call."

"After you take your medicine." Gideon said.

"Darling, you're my son, not my father! I am alright."

"No." Adam spoke for the first time in long. "He is right, take the medicine, we can worry about the food later."

Walking towards his mother's bedroom, Gideon found the pills she had been taking for that terrible flu and grabbed one, filling a glass with water in the kitchen before offering it to her. Belle took it with a smile.

"Hey, Gideon." Neal called. "What if we went to a restaurant to pick the food?"

"We?" He asked, narrowing his eyes. "I don't think so."

"Come on, kid. Let's give them some space to talk. And we can use this time to get to know each other too."

Glancing back at his mother, he saw how Adam seemed eager to talk to her, moving his cane nervously in his hands. He sighed, not sure of what he was about to do. This scottish guy didn't deserve to be near his mother and he wasn't sure if he wanted to get to know this too cheerfully half-brother.

But then, there was his mother to think about, what she wanted and what she needed. Belle talked so much about Adam that he could swear that, deep down, her love for him never died. However, Gideon didn't want her to have her heart broken again.

"I'm going." He told Neal, before turning to Gold. "But you'd better take care with what you say or do to my mother."

"Son - "

"Sorry, Gold, you only have one son, and that's not me. The fact that you had a biological part in my conception, doesn't make you my father."

Belle's bright blue eyes widened. "Gideon!" She exclaimed in tone of reprimand.

But the teenager wasn't hearing, he had already opened the flat's door and was going to the elevator. Neal breathed in. "Give him some time. You two need to talk. Just don't worry, I'll watch for my little brother."

Then, he also left, leaving Gold and Belle completely alone for the first time in almost seventeen years.


	3. Chapter 3

During her thirty-six years of life, Belle never before felt so desperate for being alone with someone than the door of her little London flat closed behind Neal, leaving her only with Adam. She stared at her joined hands that rested in her lap, gripping at each other tightly to avoid showing how trembling she was. Not even that stupid flu that had taken her down the whole week was capable of making her feel so bad as she was now. For the first time in long, she was facing the regret of her choice of never telling Adam about their baby. He looked so sad that her heart was breaking.

The years had been gentle with him, keeping Gold as handsome as the day they met. His hair was now gray, he had gained a little weight and was walking with a cane, however he was still capable of making her breathless just with a longer glance.

"What happened to your leg?" Belle asked, trying to find a safe subject to start the conversation.

She caught her lower lip between her teeth, watching him move the cane nervously in his hands, his glance dropping from her face to his bad leg that was a little more stretched than the other one, like flexing it too much could cause him pain and she didn't doubt that it in fact did, otherwise he wouldn't need a cane to support himself while walking.

"I got hitten by a car some years ago." Gold said. "I was late to pick Neal at school that day and didn't pay the needed attention when I crossed the street."

Her eyebrows lifted in shock. This wasn't a thing she was prepared to hear, not that she doesn't knew that she should expect to hear something bad, as no one ever got crippled out of good. It didn't prevent her, anyway. Belle couldn't stand imagining this happening to him, Gold laying in the cold scottish street, injured and waiting for an ambulance to take him. Swallowing, she managed to say: "Oh, that was probably bad."

"Well, I lost the ability of walking without this thing here," he lifted the cane. "But I am alive. Guess that's what matters."

"Yeah." Belle agreed, noticing that the sadness was still clear in his face. That was the same face he showed her when he told her what Milah had done and for a moment she felt as selfish as his first wife. "I'm sorry Adam, for keeping our son from you."

"You could have called. We could have make things work."

"You never gave me your number. We thought it would be better to don't be attached after that summer, remember?" Now their agreement sounded so stupid that she wanted to slap her old-self for ever considering making it. She was deeply in love with him by that time, but when he told her that he wasn't willing to try a long-distance relationship, because he still needed to heal his heart from his divorce, she wanted to step back and forget everything, she just never imagined that a couple of months after he went back to his country, she would find out that she was pregnant with his child. "However, there is probably not much lawyers called Adam Gold in Scotland, with a boy called Neal to raise. I knew that I could find you, but I was broken-hearted and desperate. I was afraid that if I went to you, you would reject me and Gideon, so I never did."

That was the truth she was so afraid of having another person turning its back to her that she never looked for Adam. Her father had been the first to shut her out of his life. When she told Moe that she was pregnant and was intending to raise her child all alone, because the baby's father didn't even know about it, he had stopped sending her money for college and rent. Her work in the bookshop and her friendship with a sweet girl called Ruby who still lived across the street and still shared all her secrets with Belle was what saved her.

The two girls had first met when she arrived London and went to a museum. Ruby was taking a degree in Fashion, while Belle was taking one in Literature and they became close friends, sharing a flat during years after she drop out college. Now Gideon called Ruby his aunt, and they had dinner with her and her long-term girlfriend Dorothy, every thursday.

Gold seemed surprised with her revelation, he reached for her hand and she jumped in place with the touch, what made him back off. "I wouldn't. I would never do such a thing, Belle." He assured her. "If you had gone for me, I would have supported you. I would have been a real father to our son."

"But how could I be sure of that?" She asked, her voice sounded suffocated, as she fought the knot in her throat. "You left me." Belle said wiping away the tear that had dared falling from her eye. "And anyway, I didn't want you to stay with me just because I was having your baby."

Sighing Gold looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "If I ever had chosen to be with you, Gideon wouldn't be the reason."

"What happened between us, Adam?" All the pain she had been through during those years was implied in that phrase. "What mess have we done?"

"I don't know." He whispered. "All I know is that in one moment I was living the best days of my life here with you and in the other I was making the stupid decision of leaving you behind. But as much as I wanted, I never forgot you, Belle."

She wanted to say that she never did too, that sometimes she still caught herself thinking about him, remembering about their time together. She wanted to confess that whenever she looked at her son and realised how much he was alike his father, a sad smile appeared in her lips, because he was the beautiful gift that Gold left to her. A huger part of her wanted to tell him how she had spent all her pregnancy imagining different scenarios, where he would just appear back in London to say that he loved her too much to live without her, his handsome face getting bright with joy when he would realise that she was expecting his baby. But those things never happened, they were only childish fantasies that her mind created to keep her from falling apart whenever she started to miss him more than she should.

"Why?" Belle demanded, letting herself cry. "Why did you leave me? I loved you more than I had ever loved someone. I liked your son. I didn't care about our age gap. So why, Adam, why?"

"I never believed that you could ever love me."


	4. Chapter 4

Adam Gold had spent years haunted by the ghost of Belle French's memory. It didn't matter that their time together had been short, it was enough for him to be sure that she was the love of his life. What a pity that he had only realised that when he was already back in Scotland, sat in his office trying to figure out what he should do next.

Milah asking for the divorce was a shock for him when it happened, of course that he knew that their relationship wasn't all good and they had been cold with each other for long, but he didn't imagine that she could be takin a lover, and declare that she was going away with that stupid irish guy, leaving Neal behind, had crushed him. He may deserve that, because he was not a good husband, and he was completely aware of that, as he always spent too much time working and too less with his wife, but his son needed a mother and that, Milah refused to be.

The anger had taken him for about a year and his life seemed to be a mess. He stopped takin all the jobs he wished and started to pass more time with his boy, but whenever he looked into Neal's big brown eyes, he felt bad for what his selfish ex-wife did and end up blaming himself for that in some way. Everything around him seemed to remind Gold of her betrayal, so first he sold their old house, buying a new one in a different borough and then he took a vacation from his job, heading to London in the very next day.

Entering the bookshop was one of the randomly things he did during that summer. He had always enjoyed reading adventure stuff and there had been quiet a long time since he allowed himself that pleasure, what made him decide to buy something to read after Neal went to bed during the nights they stayed there. Maybe it helped him forget about his problems.

She was behind the counter, the first time he ever saw her, writing something in a small black notebook, biting on her lip beautifully, young and sweet like a fresh rosebud. Belle French lifted her gaze to them and showed a smile, asking if they needed some help. She talked to his son, laughed at his bad jokes over some old books he remembered reading and, surprisingly, she accepted his invitation of going to the movies with them that night.

They had fun, the most fun he had had in almost a lifetime. Adam felt like that nineteen-year-old girl, who he knew that he shouldn't be having interest in, had brought a forgotten light back to his life.

"Thank you for today, Mr. Gold." She had said when he dropped her at flat.

Neal was waiting for his return inside of the cab, but Gold insisted in taking her to her door, just to make sure that she was really getting home safely.

"You can call me Adam, sweetheart."

"Adam. Alright, I like that name." Taking a step in his direction, she kissed his cheek, keeping her lips in his skin for time enough to make his heart race a little, his breath been caught in his throat. When Belle pulled back and their eyes met, he acted in an impulse, bending to brush his lips on hers like they were teenagers flirting on High School.

By the moment he pulled back, Gold felt a sudden panic, afraid that she would slap him or yell something bad, but Belle only smiled. "Oh, I was wondering if you would do this." She whispered. "I'm glad you did."

"Can I see you tomorrow?"

"You certainly can. I'm out for lunch by noon, you can pick me at the bookshop."

So that's what he did. Gold picked her up for lunch and dinner each day for the whole summer, as they get to known each other, taking Neal to museums, parks and all kinds of tours. After two weeks, he took them to Brighton for the weekend and they stayed in a big house he rented. Everything was perfect and on the Saturday night, after Belle entertained his son with the story of a children book she had brought before Gold put him into bed, kissing his forehead with a goodnight, they slept together for the first time.

He had been surprised to find Belle to be a virgin, since now-a-days girls of her age didn't seem to guard themselves anymore, but she did and he was the very first man to touch her. Adam had no idea of when exactly Gideon was conceived, but he bet on that night, because it was the only one he truly remembered about forgetting using any protection.

The boy was a tall thin teenager, and by the moment Gold set eyes on him, he knew that he was his son. They were indisputably alike, even though, he was glad that Gideon had inherited some of his mother's good features. Now, sitting on Belle's old couch, he was feeling like crap, having admitted to her that he never believed in her love, when she cared so dearly for him. He had ruined everything, left her there in this tiny flat, raising their child completely alone and she was so young by the time she gave birth that it only made him feel worse.

A gasp left her mouth, tears running through her face. "You didn't believe that I could love you?" She repeated. "What is this about? Is this because of what Milah did? Because I'm totally sure that I showed you that I was madly in love in all the ways I could."

"Belle, I had just gone through a divorce, I was devastated and if I hadn't fell for you by the moment we first spoke, then I wouldn't have even thought about starting a new relationship." He said as his hand tried to find hers once again and this time, she didn't pull away, just let him rub her fingers between his trembling one's. "Sweetheart, I was already an old man, with a very complicated life. I thought you deserve better, and I thought that in time you would realise this yourself to see that you never really loved me. And how could I blame you when you had a brilliant future ahead? You were going to graduate, explore the world and - "

"I never did any of this." Belle interrupted him. "I never graduated, because I drop out of college in very next month after I found out that I was pregnant. I never saw the world because Gideon became the world to me, and everything I got to know was his little adventures while growing up. But I'm not complaining, I loved each moment of it."

"Oh, darling - " he mumbled, tears coming up to his eyes. Adam had ruined her life. "I'm so sorry."

"I was not complaining." Belle insisted. "Our son is the greatest blessing I could ever receive."

She was still crying and everything they said seemed so full of angst that Gold couldn't contain his own thoughts, he started to imagine Belle as the young bright independent girl he left behind, having to face an obstacle that would change her life forever. Had she ever cried and cursed his name to put her into this situation? Had she ever looked at their boy and felt angry for the future she didn't had because of him? Or was she being truthful and had only thought about all this as a good thing? He had no idea now, but he needed to know.

"You hadn't thought about other options? Adoption or - " the next words left a terrible taste in his tongue. "Ending the pregnancy?"

Another incredulous gasp. "No! Of course not." She assured. "Since I discovered that I was expecting your child, I didn't consider anything but to raise him and love him. It was our baby, Adam, the gift of our love. Nothing else mattered."

"I wish you had called me."

The flat's door opened to let Neal and Gideon get inside, paper bags full of food in their hands. The younger brother still looked moody and gave an angry glance to Gold before crossing the living room, heading to the kitchen.

"Who wants lunch?" Neal asked, cheerfully. "I'm hungry!"

Wiping her tears, Belle stood up, helping the boys to find plates and forks. Gold watched them, unsure of what to do, until his former girlfriend called him to join them and he stood on his feet with the help of his cane, knowing that there were still too much to be said and done there.

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 ** _Author's Note: If anyone has One-Shot prompts for me I'm taking them, you can sent me them as an anon if you want to, and my my askbox on tumblr (also imgilmoregirl) is always open for questions you might have. Thank you for everyone who is reading this._**


	5. Chapter 5

Neal followed Gideon out of the small british flat, to find him in the elevator, just in time to held the doors before they fully closed and enter it, for his half-brother's displeasure. He looked away from Neal all the time, rushing out of the building by the moment the elevator reached its destiny.

The older brother snorted and ran until he reached him. "Hey, wait there, if you keep running like this, I'll lose your track."

Gideon turned around, looking grumpy. "Do you know any good restaurant around here? Because if you do so, then you can lead the way."

"Alright, you're angry, I understand."

"You don't quietly understand a thing about me. We barely known each other."

Neal shrugged. "So, let me get to know you."

"We should get the food." Gideon dodged, crossing the street and leading the way between all those buildings of unique architecture that weren't found anywhere else. Everything was so old and so new at the same time that Neal wouldn't stop get marvelled by that fact so soon. Scotland had old things but not as much as London, people in there seemed to appreciate keep everything conservator. The whole city was a historical relic. "Hey, do you think that it is safe to leave them alone?"

He was so lost in thoughts that he barely heard Gideon voluntarily speaking to him for the first time since he found that they were related. Neal couldn't help but smirk. "Don't worry, I don't think father to be the kind of man who makes out on the couch."

Gideon's eyes widened in a funny way and he made a disgusted face. "That's was definitely not what I was asking, but thank you very much for putting that image in my mind."

If he was freaking out over a merely insinuation, then was lucky to didn't even exist by the time Gold and Belle met. They were really gross during that summer, being very sticky and kissing uncontrollably whenever they got the chance.

"I was just joking, brother. If you haven't seen, papa has a bad knee now and he is an old man. And a gentleman."

"A gentleman." Gideon laughed, but there wasn't anything but sarcasm in that sound.

He waved his hand in the direction of a glass door that he pushed, entering the place with his half-brother following him. "What do you want to eat?" The boy asked, showing a menu to Neal.

They chose four different kinds of meal, two that Gideon and Belle liked, two that Gold and Neal did and the older brother insisted in paying for the food, since it was his idea to have lunch together. Neal picked his wallet from his jacket's pocket and took the necessary pounds to pay, when he heard a voice calling louder than the whispered talks that people were sharing while having lunch.

"Gideon, hey, I was going to stop by your house later." Neal heard someone saying and turned his head to see a dark-haired thin boy, smaller than his half-brother but appearing to be around the same age. "You didn't show up at school for two days. Grace and I were concerned."

"My mother got a flu and I was taking care of her and the bookshop, but I'll be back by Monday."

Grabbing the paper bags with their lunch, Neal walked towards Gideon, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The food is ready, bro."

Narrowing his eyebrows, the other boy looked between him and Gideon. "Who is that?"

"Roderick, this is my half-brother Neal Gold, Neal this is my best friend, Roderick."

Neal offered a hand for Roderick to take in a greeting, what the boy did with a mesmerized face. "Nice to meet you."

"I didn't know that you had a half-brother." Roderick said, looking back at Gideon.

"Well, I never expected to see him or my father, so it didn't seem worth saying."

For a moment, he got himself imagining what Gideon French thought about him and his father before that day. He was sure that Belle wasn't the kind of person who speaks bad things about her exes to anyone, and when it came to talk to her son about his own father, he imagined that she should have been soft, so he didn't understand why all this resentment. Neal knew how it was to grow up without one parent, as his mother was never present in his life after his parents' divorce. Not that she was much better before.

"You don't like us too much, right?" He asked.

With blushing cheeks, Roderick held the paper bag he was carrying more tightly against his chest. "I will leave you two alone with your family issues. See you at school, Gid. I'll tell Grace that you weren't kidnapped or anything like that."

"Thanks, I see you soon."

As they watched Roderick leave the restaurant, Neal pointed, counting with his fingers: "Things I know about you: first, you like the colour black as much as papa does;" He said waving his head in the direction of Gideon's outfit that had a completely lack of any other colour. "Second you have a best friend called Roderick and a girlfriend called Grace."

"She is totally not my girlfriend." The younger brother answered, with a roll of his brown eyes.

"Well, let's introduce myself if you are going to deny. I'm taking a year to think about what I really want for my life after college took everything I got with those crazy finals. I'm engaged to Emma, but she is american and is spending the summer with her parents back home." Neal recited as if it was a monologue he had been rehearsing. "I went to Saint Andrews if you want to know."

"I don't." Gideon replied, harshly.

"You are not much of a glee, joyful person."

"My day is horrible, I'm talking to a brother that I spent the last sixteen years without knowing, so no, right now I'm just angry and wanting this weekend to end."

Neal opened his mouth to say that there was nothing wrong with being angry, but that Gideon should give their father a chance, but the boy took two of the paper bags from his hands and headed back to the flat like a hurricane. Things with him, were certainly not going to be easy.

When they arrived the flat, with Gideon mumbling some bad words at the keys, when the door didn't open at his first try, they found Gold and Belle sat together at the same couch, him looking resigned and she crying her heart out, Neal had plentily sure that they would need to stay in London for a longer time than they planned.


	6. Chapter 6

Gideon helped Belle to settle the dishes in their tiny centre table. They never had a proper dining table, as the flat was too small for it, the living room having only space enough to accommodate the basic things, as did all the other rooms. Neal was happily talking what seemed to be nonsense things about Brighton, while they served themselves with the food.

"Do you remember about that carrot cake flavoured ice-cream that we got on that cute shop?" He asked. "I never ever found anything that tasted like that."

Belle gazed at him over her plate. Her eyes were still as sad as they had been when they first entered the flat after buying the food, the only difference was that now she wasn't crying anymore, but Gideon noticed that she took the care of not letting herself stare at Gold for more than five seconds at time. Maybe it was because he looked so stricken as her.

"I went to that ice-cream shop just once after that day. It was when I was around seven months pregnant and had a crave for that same flavour of ice-cream."

Snorting, the boy filled his mouth with food to keep a rude comment from slipping through his tongue. He wanted to ask what was the point of keep going with that nostalgic conversation, when after the day was over, Adam and Neal would probably rush to an airplane or train or anything else and vanish back to Scotland to never come back.

Gold had stopped eating and was eying Belle like she was an interesting book he had just discovered. "You craved the carrot cake ice-cream?"

"Yeah. And pineapple with melted chocolate. And, oh, popcorn sandwich!"

"Popcorn sandwich?" Gold inquired.

"Believe, those things happen to sound delicious when you are pregnant." She shrugged, seeming a little lighter than before. "I just wouldn't eat now half of the things I did back then."

Neal looked a little disgusted, but kept eating, like he hadn't heard a thing. Gideon wished that he could be anywhere else, but not there, watching his parents glance sadly at each other, making the silence seem to be full of loud thoughts. It was almost unbelievable that this devastated man, was his really his father.

There it was a funny story over Gideon's name. His mother had told him, that when she found out that he was a boy, she first wanted to name him Adam, but then she realised that it would be too painful for her to have to call her son by the name of the man who left her behind, even if he was the child's father. So, she started to look for names that remembered her about her lost love, but didn't exactly related to him.

It was when she reread her favourite book, that the name Gideon sounded perfect for her, because it was clean, strong and started with the same letter of his father's surname, Gold. The middle name Aiden, was added later, when after first holding her baby boy, Belle decided that she really wanted him to have something from his father and picked it. Usually Gideon wondered if it really made a connection between them, if despite of all these crazy meaningful things that his mother implied in the choice of his name, Gold and him had anything in common, but when he looked at the man sat near his mother in their couch, the boy could only think that he never wanted to look so haunted by his mistakes, like his father did.

"We could go there." Neal suggested and Gideon was so lost in thoughts that for a second he didn't understand what he was talking about.

"Brighton?" Belle asked.

"No way!" Gideon suddenly spoke, after barely saying a word since they arrived. "She is still sick."

"I didn't say that we should go just now. Next week maybe. We could rent a house for the weekend and it would be like the old times."

"Neal!" Gold said in a tone of reprimand.

Shooking his head, Gideon thought that his half-brother must be a very optimist person to think that they could just all enter in a car and sing some happy songs while they took the road to the beach. It sounded ridiculous for a normal family. For them, who were both ex-somethings and strangers it would be utterly weird and unthinkable. Neal must've been out of his good senses to suggest something like that.

"I could go." Belle said.

At her side, Gold's eyes shinned with some hope.

"You - " he almost choke with his food. Gideon needed to cough a few times before getting to speak again. "Mama! No, you have a store and weekends are our best days at selling."

"I know, but I'm not saying that we are going to close forever, just for two days. And anyway, you love Brighton."

Breathing in, he placed his plate on the table and stood up. "Can we please talk in private for a second?"

She sighed, following him to his bedroom, where the boy slammed the door shut by the moment she passed through it. Belle folded her arms and suddenly she wasn't looking so wrecked and fragile anymore, she just seemed very angry, with her reprehensible motherly look in her face. "If you keep behaving like that, you'll be grounded for the whole next month."

"This isn't fair!" He shouted, trying to keep his voice low not to allow their guests to hear what they were saying. "Mama, look at me. You can't just keep this going, I know that you feel guilty for not telling Gold that you were pregnant, but you didn't have to. He left you."

"You don't understand." Belle shooked her head. "We both did the wrong thing, but we need at least to have a better talk. And you should have this chance too, you should get to know your father."

"Mama - " Gideon snorted. "I didn't need him for sixteen years of my life, why would you think that I need him now?"

"Sweetie, every boy needs his father. You may not remember but there was a time where you couldn't stop asking me about him, wanting to hear the stories about him all over again. You wanted a father, and I know that deep down, you still do."

"No." He denied. "All I need is you and the life we had before today."

"Gid, please, let's come back there. Be polite, talk to them. Do it for me. You are such a good boy, don't let your anger kill it."

Grabbing his mother's hand Gideon sighed, knowing that her pleading blue gaze could make him do anything. She could yell at him and ground him how many times she wanted but nothing in this world worked better than that look. He kissed her palm, nodding.

"Will you accept the weekend invitation?"

"I'm thinking about it." Belle confessed. "But only if you are willing to try getting to know your father."

"You know what I think about it."

"What if I promise to take Roderick, Grace and you to that music festival in Leeds if you do so?"

That was unfair. He had spent the last month trying to convince her to take them to that festival and she had said no every single time he asked, and now for a stupid weekend with his father and brother he could get it. Imagining the bright smile in his friends' faces Gideon didn't find strengths to refuse.

"I think we have a deal."

A beautiful smile appeared in her lips. "Thank you!"

They got out of the bedroom and went back to their seats as his mother announced: "Well, if Neal was talking seriously, then I think we should go to Brighton!"


	7. Chapter 7

"So, how does he look like?" Grace asked, anxiously, by the moment Gideon got out of his mother's car on that Monday morning.

He sighed, gripping the strap of his backpack more tightly and wanting to have stayed in bed. At least, he thought, that horrible weekend was over. After the Saturday lunch, the Golds had finally left for their hotel, leaving Belle and him to clean the mess in their kitchen and wonder what Brighton had for them. Gideon had some trouble sleeping that night, not just because he heard his mother crying in her bedroom, but because he kept thinking about a cheerful half-brother and a mysterious father whose face seemed to be haunted by his mistakes.

He made a frown, as he was followed inside the school by his friends and shouted over his shoulder: "Old."

"That can't be the only word you find to describe your father." Roderick rolled his eyes.

"I barely talked to him."

The blonde girl beside him, grabbed one Gideon's arms in her own and Roderick in the other. "Why not?"

"What did I have to say, Grace? He abandoned my mother and I don't care if he never knew that she was pregnant. If he loved her, he wouldn't have had left her."

"Whoa, angry Gideon is making a visit." Roderick mumbled. "Calm down, buddy."

Breathing in, Gideon tried to do so, because he knew that he shouldn't be taking his problems on his friends. And, anyway, they would be a good distraction for him to forget about that stupid trip he agreed to. What made him remember that Roderick and Grace were the only reasons that made him accept to spend some time with his father.

"My mother decided that we should go to Brighton with them for the weekend."

"Like a family trip?" Roderick asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah. My worst nightmare! But, I've won something from this, I made a deal with my mom. I'll go with them and she will take us to the music festival in Leeds."

"Really?" The other boy asked. "I thought she had said no to that, like a thousand times."

Gideon shrugged. "Thank the Golds for that one."

"Oh my God!" Grace exclaimed throwing her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. Her father only allowed her to go to the places that Belle allowed Gideon to go, so she was feeling hopeless about going to the festival. "I love you!"

"And that's how you make a girl happy." Gideon babbled, pretending to cough to make her pull away. "Hold your horses, Miss Paige, she can still change her mind."

Grace clapped her hands together under Roderick's attentive watch. "I'll make sure she won't."

* * *

Gold flipped the page of his newspaper, looking at it without reading, thinking about Belle and Gideon all the time. He hadn't seen his youngest son after their lunch together, but he had stopped by the bookshop to talk to Belle for five awkward minutes on the Sunday afternoon and make sure that she hadn't agreed with that trip to be polite.

Sweet as always, she had held his hand and said that she really wanted some time for a sincere talk just like she wanted him and Gideon to get to know each other. Adam had mumbled something about wanting the same before walking away as fast as he could with that cane. Now, he wanted to see her again, tell how much he missed her and was eager to spend the weekend in her company, but he couldn't find courage to do that, so he kept sat in his hotel room, ignoring all the calls from his partner in the office back in Scotland, Cora Mills.

The door slammed open and a very happy Neal entered, holding a paper in his hands and shaking it in the air, like it was the winner ticket of a great prize.

"I did it!"

"Did what?" Gold asked, flipping another page of the newspaper.

"I got the house!" Neal said as if it was the obvious answer, but when Adam didn't show any interest in that, he waved a hand in front of his face. "Papa, look up and pay some attention at this, I got the damn house!"

"Which house Neal?"

"The same one that we spent that summer in Brighton. I rented it for the weekend."

His jaw dropped, he couldn't be serious, but for his cheerful expression, Gold didn't doubt that he was. He wanted to tap his head against the table.

"Are you mad boy?" Adam questioned in disbelief. "Belle will hate it! She will freak out."

"No, she won't. She liked it."

"Yeah, in the summer that I ruined her life." He said, leaving the newspaper aside. "You need to find another place."

Neal's brow narrowed. "Didn't you hear what I said? I already rented it. It's payed for the weekend."

He closed his eyes momentarily, shooking his head, because he wasn't even sure if he wanted to come back to that place himself. Take Belle there would be even worse.

"Oh, Neal, you shouldn't have done this."

"Relax, pop," his son said, sitting on the bed and taking off his shoes. "We will be fine."

"You say this because you are not the one who made this terrible mess." Gold turned around to face him. "Have you seen the way Gideon looks at me? He is full of rage."

"Yeah, that kid is really angry, but there is nothing a good talk can't solve and that's why we are going to Brighton." Neal said, opening his bag to find his phone's charger. "And for the ice-cream."

Looking outside the window, Gold sighed. "She had a brilliant future ahead, you know? Belle was going to be brilliant. I took it from her."

Neal rolled his eyes, plugging the charger and starting to take some clothes off his traveling bag, he looked at his father, waving his head slightly, like he thought that Adam was just being stupid.

"You need to stop blaming yourself because of everything. She may not have the future she planned, but she is not unhappy. And you didn't force her to do anything." He laughed and added: "At least I hope."

Gold almost jumped in his seat at those words. "Neal!"

"Bad joke? Sorry." His son said, still guffawing. "But you got my point."

Standing up, he grabbed his cane and wallet, walking towards the door. "I need some coffee."

"I thought you preferred tea." Neal said.

"Not today."

* * *

It was noon and Belle was sat on Jefferson's couch, waiting as he opened some of his boxes, trying to find what she wanted, unsuccessfully, thanks to the mess that his things were. She ate a red apple while she watched him take a lot of stuff from inside the boxes.

"Explain me again." Jefferson asked, looking annoyed at crystal unicorn. "Why do you want my camera?"

"I told you. I hope to get some pictures of Gideon with his father and brother."

The look in Jefferson's face told her that he didn't believe it even a bit. She and Ruby had gone out last night, because she needed to talk about Gold and Neal's sudden apparition in her bookshop, and Belle was sure that if wasn't for the fact that her flu had made her take all those medicines, she would have gladly drank great doses of whiskey and cried on her best friend's shoulder until the morning came. She usually was a responsible mother, but she never before felt more like she needed a drink.

Belle tried to convince herself not to care that much for her ex-boyfriend, but the truth was that she couldn't stop thinking how good he looked in that suit he was wearing when she saw him at the bookshop, or how even the cane looked good in his hands. Maybe if Adam had only been one of those torrid affairs, that people use to have only for the physical part of it, she could forget everything and just follow with her life, refusing to go to Brighton and everything else, but it never was. They understood each other so perfectly that if she believed in soulmates, she would say that he was hers.

Jefferson took the camera out of a round blue box, smiling, before asking: "And do you really think that it is safe to go on that trip with Gold?"

"Of course, it is. What bad can it make?"

"He could break your heart again."

She stood up, leaving a half-eaten apple in his centre table above a small plate and walked in his direction, both hands resting on her own hips, a defiant look that only Belle French could wear and still seem tiny and helpless, crossing her face.

"I'm not giving my heart for him to break this time."

"Oh, no!" He muttered and then said in a louder voice, pointing an accusative finger at her: "You have heart-eyes right now, just to talk about him. And you are blushing."

"Jefferson Paige, I'm not falling for him again!"

"Dear, you don't need to. You never got over him."

Narrowing her eyes, Belle stretched a hand. "The camera, please."

"Here, friend." Jefferson said, placing the professional camera he usually used to take pictures both of his daughter and the city. "I hope you have a great weekend, just take care of yourself."

"Thank you for the concern, but it is not needed." Belle answered coming back to the couch to grab her bag. "I told Gideon to invite Grace and Roderick to have pizza with us tonight, I hope you don't mind."

"Not even a little."

"Alright then, I need to go back to the bookshop."

She was about to leave when he said: "Belle, you forgot something."

When she turned back to see what she had forgotten, he threw a package of condoms on her. Belle widened her eyes, grabbing the package and seeming to be in shock, but that was something that she could always expect from him. This kind of teasing was his way to tell her that he cared about her.

"Jeff!" She squeaked. "Really?"

Shrugging, he let a grin pass through his lips. "Better have some, just in case."

Belle rolled her eyes, opening her bag to place the package inside. She tipped her fingers on the camera, getting out of his apartment with a last: "Goodbye!"


	8. Chapter 8

It was Friday night and after Gideon arrived from school and Belle closed the shop, they went straight to their flat, picking up their traveling bags and waiting for the Golds' arrival. Belle kept looking at the time on her phone, walking around their living room, making noise with her high heels. The white blouse she was wearing, combinate with the blue skirt, causing her to appear to be quietly younger than she was. Gideon had always admired his mother's beauty and her bubbly personality, but he was a little worried that she had dressed that way for his father.

When Adam Gold parked a rented car in front of their building, Belle almost clapped her hands with joy. She rushed to grab the strap of her bag and Gideon followed her out of their flat to the elevator, texting Roderick to say that his nightmare was officially beginning.

"Can you please put a smile on your face?" Belle asked, seeing the frown that he seemed unable to take off.

Gideon lifted his eyes from the phone, one eyebrow arched. "I agreed to go, not to be happy with it."

Slapping his arm with no strength at all Belle warned: "Music festival, remember?"

"You are cruel." Gideon muttered, shrinking.

"No, I am not. We have a deal, so put a smile on your face."

The boy rolled his eyes, thinking about what else she would make him do until the weekend was over, using he festival to blackmail him. He slipped his phone to his jeans pocket and forced a smile to pass through his lips.

"Better?"

"That's my boy."

A sound told them that the elevator had reached the ground floor and the two of them got out of it, seeing Neal waiting for them on the entryway.

"Hey, you guys!" He greeted, happily. "Ready for a great weekend?"

"Sure." The younger brother answered in his most sarcastic voice.

Gold was standing behind Neal, wearing a dark blue shirt beneath his black suit, his hair fluttering with the breeze, but the waves in the grey stripes, only making him look more handsome. Belle hold onto a breath, suddenly thinking about her last conversation with Jefferson and remembering that his little gift was still inside her bag. Shooking her head at this thought, she slapped her son's arm again.

"Gideon!" Belle squealed. "Where are your manners?"

Faking another smile, the boy waved for them, walking towards the car and placing their bags on the car's trunk. "Hello, you two." Gideon said, opening his backpack as he opened one of the four doors of the car. "I'm going to look for my headphones now."

The door slammed shut and Belle sighed before hugging Neal and then Gold, remaining in his arms a little longer than the needed. She touched his face, smiling for him before she pulled away.

"I'm sorry!" Belle said, pointing to the car. "He is trying, but is just on that moody teenager phase."

"Hopefully I can get him to speak another two bitterly words with me until Monday morning." Gold replied.

"Monday?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought we would be back at Sunday night. Gideon has school."

That was something that hadn't even crossed his mind. Adam glanced at Neal, who only shrugged, letting his father resolve it by himself. "Oh, I'm sorry, we could come earlier if you want. I didn't think about it at all."

Belle took a moment to consider it, but she ended up shooking her head and smoothing Gold's arm with an assuring look in her eyes. Neal couldn't help but stare at them, wondering how long it would take for the two idiots to fell into each other's arms, like they had done when they first met.

"I think it's ok." Belle said. "One day is not going to kill anyone, right?"

"Yeah!" The young man celebrated. "Let's take the road."

"Wait." Gold stopped him, moving to stand in front of his son, a grin appearing in his face, in that fatherly look, that the woman next to them reminded to have seen a few times during their summer together. "First, Neal would you like to tell Belle what did you do?"

"Better not."

"What?" Belle questioned, looking between them with a puzzled face.

"Speak, boy." Gold insisted.

"I - I kind of rented the same house we stayed in, all those years ago."

Her jaw dropped a little and Belle didn't know what to feel. When she finally enters that car, she was going to be taken back to the past, with the same people that during that incredible summer, she swore that would be a part of her life forever. With the only difference that they were older now, that their mistakes were like a deep cloud surrounding them and the son that Adam and her had conceived back then, would be in there, sat on the backseat, texting his friends and pretending that they didn't exist.

"Oh."

"And what do you want to say now, Neal?"

"Sorry?" He mumbled, seeming to be ashamed.

Gold chuckled. "It didn't hear it."

She rolled her eyes, giving a solidarity glance to Neal and placing both her hands in her own hips. Belle couldn't believe that Gold was treating him like he was a six-year-old boy whining over some stupid thing.

"Adam, he is not a child! And I'm fine, alright?"

"Gideon is not a child too and you were forcing him to talk to us gently. Why can't I do the same with Neal?"

Sensing an argument about to start Neal waved with his phone for them, saying: "I'll call Emma."

He walked down the street, tipping the number before lifting the black squared thing to his ear. Belle watched him for a moment, before turning to Gold, with curiosity shinning in her blue eyes.

"Who is Emma?" She asked.

"His fiancée."

"He is going to get married? That's sweet!"

Gold shrugged, seeming a little too much unsure about it. Maybe, she thought, he didn't like that Emma after all, or maybe he just thought that his son was too young to get married. But when the real answer came from his lips, it was nothing that she was expecting to hear.

"Yeah, maybe someday it happens. He proposed at their graduation from college, but none of them have jobs right now or are planning for a real wedding. Kids are irresponsible these days."

"Don't be mad at him, we all are irresponsible at some point of our lives." A weaker smile appeared in her lips. "I know that I was."

"Belle - "

Behind them, one of the car's windows opened and Gideon's face showed up. "Hey, you are going to keep talking outside the car? I thought that we were going to Brighton!"

Sighing, Gold opened the passenger's door for Belle, letting her settle inside, then he screamed for his son, who was lost in a conversation: "Neal, come on! Get in the car!"

* * *

"Can I put some music?" Belle asked after some time on the road.

Adam was driving while she was looking to the landscape outside the windows and the boys kept texting distracted, but the silence was bothering her, making her thoughts get even more creative as the car proceeded, causing her to start to imagine if everything was still the same in the house where they were going to. If it would be as awkward as their lunch had been or as sweet as the summer back when she was nineteen was.

She looked at Adam for his approval and when he nodded, she could notice that his eyes glanced briefly at her and he sighed before turning them back to the road.

"Whatever you wish." Gold answered.

"No!" Gideon interfered. "Don't let her touch the radio!"

"Why not?" Neal asked, by his side.

But at that time, Belle had already turned it on and found a song from a british band she loved and had started to sing along, not caring a bit for what her son was saying.

"That's why!" The younger boy complained with a groan. "We should have taken the train."

* * *

"Thank God," Gideon muttered, when the car parked outside the big house. "I didn't remember of this trip taking so long."

He immediately opened the door, getting out and looking to the house in wonder, the headphones wrapped around his neck, hanging free to one side as the other was plucked in his phone. The other three doors opened as well, with the rest of his crooked family following him.

"It didn't take that long." Belle contemplated.

Chuckling Gideon made his way to the entryway, shouting: "Neal made us stop three times."

"I was hungry!"

"Nobody can be that hungry. Haven't you eaten for days or something like that?"

Neal followed him, looking insulted. "Can any words that slips out of your mouth not sound cruel?"

Belle leaned on the car, staring at them as the brothers continued their argument, while Neal opened the door and they made their way inside.

"Now imagine if they had grown up together." She said with a little laugh.

"We would have had trouble." Gold answered.

"I don't think so, they are already acting like brothers. Gideon is just not an easy person, but he takes it from his papa."

"I am easier than that!" He defended himself, waving at the house with the hand that was not occupied by the cane.

"No, Adam, you are certainly not."

Opening the car's trunk, Belle started to grab the straps of their traveling bags all pull them up.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking the bags." She replied, confused by the question, because it was obvious that someone needed to take them and she was the one doing the work.

Gold rolled his eyes, stretching his hand to free her from the baggage, but Belle stepped back. "I can take them." He insisted.

"You are walking with a cane."

"That doesn't make me uncappable of carrying a bag, sweetheart. There is a lot of things that I can still do with a cane."

A smirk appeared in her lips, and Belle wished she wasn't imagining what that phrase implied, but in fact she was. "Well then, I can't wait for you to show me it all."

With that, she left Gold behind and entered the house, eager to start the weekend.


	9. Chapter 9

Neal woke up early. They had reached Brighton late night yesterday and after sharing a pizza they all just felt too awkward to just keep sat in the living room like normal families could do and went to their respective rooms.

The house was pretty big, it had three floors, a spacious kitchen, five en-suite bedrooms, a small library and two bathrooms. There was no doubt why it had costed Neal all the money it did to rent it for the weekend, it was one of those places that most people only dreamed to live in. But the best thing about it, was that the house was conserved the very same way it had been seventeen years ago, with the pale-blue walls, the light wooden floor and still having most of the original furniture.

He had carried his baggage to the same bedroom where he stayed during that summer, and even though its' superheroes wallpaper he had thought to be so fascinating back then, now looked too childish, it felt good to be there, because in that house he had felt truly happy for the first time since his mother abandoned him to live an adventurous life with that stupid irish guy. Neal didn't see Milah too much after she went away and now, mostly of the time, the only thing she seemed to be was a strange ghost haunting some of his childhood memories.

Going downstairs, he passed through the second floor's corridor and glanced at the master bedroom, which his father and Belle had taken as theirs in the past, but now was empty, because they were sleeping in the most distant rooms they found from one another: Gold in the one next to his and Belle down the hallway, next to Gideon's. He shooked his head, wanting more than anything that Adam could not only find happiness again, but also forgiveness for the mistake he just found out that he did.

Looking at his watch to check what time was it, Neal made his way to the kitchen, intending to drink a glass of orange juice and got surprised to see that Gideon was there, sat in a chair in front of the counter, with a laptop open in front of him and just finishing a call on his phone.

"Hey," the older brother greeted, seeing him place the phone at the laptop's side. "I wasn't expecting you to be already up."

Gideon shrugged. "I'm a morning person."

"I see." Opening the refrigerator, he filled the first cup he found with the juice and took a sip of it, thinking that he would probably never get to truly known this brother if he didn't push things a little. "I am going out for a run. Do you want to come?"

The teenager boy was dressed with a dark-blue pyjama and it was the first time ever that Neal saw him wearing something that wasn't black. He seemed to have a preference for things that reflected his dark mood and it got Neal thinking that it was something he had inhered from their father.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Gideon said, closing the laptop and standing up. "Wait a minute, I'll just change."

He disappeared in the staircase, coming back some minutes later, back to his black in black outfits, but this time a proper exercise one and Neal wrote a fast note to Gold and Belle explaining where they were going and left it on the counter, above Gideon's laptop, before they went on their run. The brothers went straight to the beachside, as the house was very near it, the cold breeze of the morning hitting them as they took fast steps, watching the sea.

"So, this is your idea of a perfect weekend?" Gideon asked after a while. "Running around at six in the morning?"

"Not exactly. But the weekend barely begun."

An unbelieving smirk passed through the younger boy's lips as he thought about the meanings of his brother's last words. Neal thought to himself that he should have kept his mouth shut.

"Why do I have the strange feeling that you are trying to get your father and my mother together?"

That was it, Gideon was just as clever as Belle.

"He is your father too, you know." Neal said, with an innocent smile.

"This is not what I ask."

"Yeah, it certainly isn't."

"You are not going to deny it?"

"No."

An incredulous look filled Gideon's face and Neal almost laughed. It was very clear that they weren't on the same page and terms. None of them agreed with the other's opinion and while Neal thought that bringing Gold and Belle together would be a blessing in his father's life, Gideon seemed to think the very contraire and was willing to keep his mother as far from their father as he could.

"Really, Neal? I don't think they need any help, they are adults and I think that they are doing pretty great with the life the already have."

"That's just what you think." Neal pointed out. "But you don't know the reality."

"And you do?"

"Yes."

"Idiot." Gideon chuckled under his breath.

"I'm not an idiot, I've spent a whole summer beside them, when you didn't even exist yet." Neal shrugged. "I think I know better."

"Then you should know that Gold broke my mother's heart when he stepped back in their relationship. I don't want her to go through all this again."

"My father is a different man now than he was before."

He is not so self-loathing as he was before, was what Neal really meant to say. That summer, Gold just had gone through a divorce and was still very angry with how things ended in his marriage, the truth was that as much as Belle made him happy, he wasn't ready for another relationship that soon and that was why he left her behind. Plus, the fact that she was very younger than him and he thought that she deserved better.

A suffocated sarcastic laugh came from Gideon's throat. "Of course he is."

"I'm serious." Neal insisted.

"Can't you run with your mouth shut?"

And there it was Gideon's bad mood again, but he sounded truly angry, so Neal did the effort of doing what his brother asked. However, his mind couldn't get quiet no matter how hard he tried, and the memories of their quick conversation in the kitchen came up to surface, making him smile with the chance of teasing his little brother just one more time.

"Who were you talking to when I entered the kitchen?" Neal questioned.

"No one."

"Was that your girlfriend Grace?"

Taking a deep breath, Gideon stopped running and he had to brake himself some steps forwards, walking back to where the teenager boy was standing with a frown on his face.

"You know that I am gay, huh?" Gideon said.

Neal's jaw dropped. He didn't saw that coming. Of course, he knew the boy for a week and they barely talk, but that was the last thing he was expecting to hear from him.

"Oh, so Grace is not your girlfriend?"

"Obviously not."

There was a lot he wanted to say, but he didn't know how. That didn't change anything about his brother for him, but unfortunately, Neal knew that for a lot of people it did.

"Does your mom know that?"

"Yeah, always."

Breathing in, Neal studied him for a moment. "You don't look gay."

"I didn't know someone had to." His brother answered, rolling his eyes as Neal kept staring at him, wordlessly, what angered Gideon, whose jaw tightened and whose expression turned darker. "Don't look at me like this."

He turned his back on Neal and started to run again, leaving the older brother stupefied, feeling a complete idiot for the way he sounded and acted, because he wasn't this kind of person who judges someone that way. Neal rushed to reach Gideon, running by his side as an apologize left his lips.

"Sorry, no, that's cool, you know? Very cool."

"Gladly I don't care for your opinion."

Questions didn't stop to come up in Neal's head and suddenly he felt like the most curious man alive.

"Does papa know this?"

"That I don't care about your opinion?" Gideon chuckled, humourless. "Yeah, I think I made it very clear."

"Not this, jerk, the other thing. That you like boys."

Another roll of eyes. It seemed to be the only thing Neal was worth for his brother. He just asked himself how the son of someone so sweet and kind as Belle, could turn into such a bitter person.

"Neal, I know the guy a week. I shouldn't be even talking to you about that!"

"I'm your brother!"

Gideon laughed and bounced: "Half-brother."

"That doesn't make any different!" Neal protested. "My mom suck, I would prefer to be Belle's son.'

"Too late for that. Your father would have to meet her and abandon her pregnant like, seven years earlier?"

"Why are you always so rude?"

"That's my greatest quality."

They run in silence for a while more, Neal's brain still trying to ration the whole conversation. He couldn't expect to talk to Emma again and tell her everything about how things only got more and more fascinating in England than he ever imagined that they could.

"Does Roderick is your boyfriend?" Neal asked.

"Ok, time for questions is over." Gideon said harshly, quicking his pace. "Now I'll truly run."

* * *

It was about seven when Gold woke up. He took a long shower, got dressed and went downstairs, finding Belle preparing some tea in the kitchen. She was already ready for the day wearing a printed dress and some flat shoes, what made her look even more petite and younger, the way her hair was pulled up in a ponytail and a side smile danced in her lips as she grabbed the teapot, made Gold stand by the doorframe like an idiot for a long moment, admiring her beauty.

"Hey." Belle said, when she turned around and saw him.

"Good morning." Adam replied, still a little stunned, as he slid to the breakfast table set in one of the corners of the kitchen.

She quickly set a cup in front of him and filled it with hot tea, before doing the same for herself and sitting in the chair right in front of him.

"We are alone." Belle informed. "The boys left a note saying that they went on a run."

"Oh, great."

The last thing he needed now was Neal trying to force anything with them and starting to disappear with Gideon. He was willing to seat and have a real conversation with his younger son this weekend, but this would never work if the boy thought that he was trying something with his mother. Belle, otherwise, didn't seem to bother with this as she let out a sweet laugh, rubbing her fingers at her teacup, lightly.

"I feel like we are on a strange version of The Parent Trap." She said, amused, before taking a sip of her drink.

"Tell this to Gideon." Gold grumbled, knowing that Neal was the only one trying to get them together. "He seems to think that we are on Star Warsand I am Darth Vader."

Belle arched and eyebrow. "I thought you hated Star Wars."

He remembered one particular night during their summer, when they started to discuss movies and Belle said the she was fascinated for Star Wars. Gold had made a disgusted face and said that he was never much into it and didn't buy the movies' idea. They argued over an hour before they tangled in the bed, making love and forgetting completely about that. The remembrance was still capable of making him shiver, but Gold wasn't going to embarrass himself by getting so lost in his own thoughts to not answer her.

"I do, but Neal loves it, so he made me watch all the movies."

Laughing again Belle made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and he rolled his eyes at it. She still had the appetited of a child. Well if their talk about her pregnancy craves wasn't enough to prove it then, that was.

"Don't you think you should wear something more comfortable than a suit in your vacation?" Belle asked, glancing at him over her sandwich.

He took a sip of his tea, pretending that he didn't care that much for the question. "You never complained before."

"I'm not complaining at all, I like the way you look in these clothes, I was just thinking if you don't want to use something more causal to walk around the beach and everything else."

In the past, she hadn't said anything when he took her and Neal to the pier, dressed like that, or when he watched the two of them playing in the freezing water with the same clothes. He went back to the house completely soaked that day, after the two of the dragged him to the sea and dropped him in the water, but he was so happy that he didn't even bother.

"I think that that would be a problem, since all I have here is suits."

"Oh, you're definitely going to shop with me." Belle said, too cheerful. "Maybe I can buy you some hawaiian printed shirts!"

"Only in your dreams, Miss French."

When their mutual laughs fade down, Gold and Belle ate in silence, him only enjoying a piece of bread while she licked the peanut butter from her fingers.

"I - " she tried to start when she finished her breakfast, but needed to take a deeper breath to do so. "I brought a photo album with some pictures of Gideon through the years, if you want to see."

"That would be great." Gold smiled but this time, all that he looked like was sad. "I really got myself imagining how he would've looked like as child."

"Adam - " Belle whispered. "I'm sorry. I made a mistake."

"Yeah, so did I, sweetheart."


	10. Chapter 10

Belle and Adam had spent a great time looking at the pictures of their son in the photo album she had brought with her from London. She shared some funny stories with him about baby Gideon being slightly obsessed in pulling Ruby's fake coloured strips of hair from her head, the time he got lost at Hyde Park and almost scared her to death at age of four and how he was excited to get started with school. All those memories made her nostalgic, but they brought such a sadness to Adam's eyes, that she excused herself from the living room and went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes and clean the breakfast table. The work was almost finished when the two brothers came back from their run, tired and sweaty.

"Hey, you had a good time?" She asked, smiling at them as she stretched herself in an attempt to reach her tall son's cheek and kiss it, but she was too small and the boy had to bend to allow her to do so.

"Sort of." Gideon answered quickly, making his way to the second floor.

Neal's eyes followed his half-brother, until he disappeared from his sight and his attention went back to Belle. "He is not much of a talkative person, right?"

"Actually, he is." She sighed, thinking about how many times Gideon and her had lost themselves in long conversations about the most diverse subjects: books, life, love, just everything and sometimes even nothing. "I'm sorry he is just a little upset right now."

"I see. But he was actually better today." Neal told her with a smile, playing with the watch in his wrist. "I'll go take a bath."

"Alright, just hurry, because we've been planning to do some shopping today."

His jaw dropped. "I'm sorry, you convinced my father to do shopping in Brighton?"

"I did." Belle said, proudly.

"Oh, I need to take pictures of this to send Emma! She will laugh out loud." He muttered, already planning in filming the whole day with his phone's camera. "See you in a while."

Covering her mouth with a hand to muffle her laugh, Belle went back to the living room, where Adam was still sat at the large couch, looking transfixed at the photo album until he heard her steps and lifted his face to follow Belle with his eyes while she walked towards him to take the empty seat by his side.

"Are they back?" He questioned, probably having heard the boys' voices coming from the kitchen.

"Yeah."

"Thank you for this, sweetheart." Gold smiled, pointing at the album with a slight movement of his head, the tip of his fingers tracing the stamps of the cover. "I really appreciated seeing each one of those photos."

A strange agony took place in Belle's heart, because everything seemed so wrong that she suddenly wanted to cry. Things weren't supposed to be like this and she wasn't supposed to be showing him pictures of their son's childhood, because he should have been there. He should be in those pictures and in their lives, so Gideon wouldn't be feeling like was being forced to be nice with the man who never really was a father to him.

"You know what I am thinking about right now?" Belle asked, eager to change the subject of their conversation and dissipate the toxic thoughts in her mind. "Ice cream. Now that we are here, I just need it."

"I'll gladly take you anywhere you want to go today." Adam replied, placing the album on the small centre table, so he could take her hand in his own, his palm covering hers completely and his soft grip making her hear race.

Just like this, she felt like she was nineteen again, naïve and foolishly in love with someone she knew that he shouldn't be fancying over. She was his Belle again, and all the tough years she spent alone in the same city they met, raising the child he had no idea they've done, disappeared. She was young and fearless once more. And she had no idea of what she was doing, when her other hand slipped to his thigh.

"I have a long list, if you don't mind." Belle said.

Gold didn't know what he was doing too, but finding his way back to her seemed so simple and easy at that moment, when she was so close to him in that couch, a hand dangerously set on his thigh and the other one, wrapped beneath his, that it could easily be years ago. He touched her neck, watching her eyes close as he palmed it, rubbing his thumb against her soft skin.

"I don't." The words came easy as he leaned in.

Everything happened simultaneously slow and fast. Gold's face approached Belle's, so hesitantly as both of them were a little afraid and unprepared for this that their lips didn't got to touch, because someone walked inside the room and they jumped away from each other.

"Mother you - " Gideon started, but them his eyes fell on them and an angry expression crossed his face. "Where the hell is Neal?"

"Upstairs, darling." Belle replied, cheeks flushed and glance dropped to the floor.

"Right, I need to kill him."

By the moment his words made sense on her mind, Belle stood up and followed him through the house. "Gideon Aiden French, come back here!"

"No! I need to speak to him."

"Gid, stop, you are not like this!" She yelled, getting to grab his arm when they were at the second floor. "You are a loving boy."

"He abandoned you! And now he was just about to - " Gideon couldn't even complete the phrase, it was too disgusting for him.

Belle felt her whole face get red with shame. What was she thinking? Probably nothing, she thought, because she was completely out of her mind and it seems Jefferson was right all the time. She didn't need to fell for Adam all over again, because she had never get over him, but now she had just lost herself for a brief instant and caused more troubles with her son.

"Nothing was going to happen!" Belle affirmed.

"I am sorry." A voice behind her said.

Eyes widening, Belle reached to help Gold stand on his feet, because he was leaning against the walls to keep himself from falling since he apparently had climbed up the stairs without the cane, that wasn't in sight.

"Adam, where is your cane?" She asked, worriedly. "Your leg!"

"I am, I truly am son!" Gold continued, not paying any attention to her. "I was a coward. That's what you want to hear? Because that's the truth!"

"I - " Gideon tried to start, but he didn't find the words to continue, so Adam did it for him.

"If I could change this I would make sure that I would have been here for you." The lines on his face showed such a sadness as he looked at Gideon's expressionless visage, that Belle felt her eyes burn with unshed tears. "Forgive me. I've lost as much as you did and this time I'll never get back."

The silence got them and Gideon kept staring at his father, but not as angrily as he did before, now he had nothing to show, but confused eyes, filled of mixed feelings.

"Say something." Belle shout out at her son.

"I wanted a father." Gideon muttered, weakly. "I always did."

Moving away from her grip, Adam opened his arms to his son, asking silently for a hug that the boy would have denied a thousand times if he didn't look so fragile and small as he did right now. Gideon bent to let his father fold his arms around him, a sob escaping his throat when he finally got to hold his boy. It was the first time in their lives that they hugged each other, the very first time that teenager boy known the warmth of a fatherly affection.

"Whoa, should I get the camera now?" Neal asked, coming from the third floor to see that scene, his eyes widening in surprise.

Belle waved a hand for him, pointing at the living room. "I think they need a moment alone."

Following her, Neal and Belle sneaked out, leaving Gideon and Gold still awkwardly embraced. A whimper of pain came from Adam and the boy pulled away, looking down at him, completely aware of his father's grip in his arm, that hadn't loosened even a bit.

"What is it?"

"My leg." Gold explained. "It hurts."

Guiding him to the stair case, the boy pointed at the steps. "Here sit."

With some effort, Adam sat as he suggested, stretching his bad leg, so the aching ankle could hurt so much and cause him such a terrible affliction. He breathed out a little relieved that his pain was decreasing, but still concerned that even after hugging him, Gideon looked bothered.

"You are still angry." Adam bounced. "I can see it."

"Sixteen years, you know?" The boy answered, taking a seat by his side. "When every other boy had a father, you just weren't there."

"If Belle had told me - "

"No! Don't you even start to try putting the blame on her right now. Yeah, she never told you, but as much of a bastard as you were with her, you couldn't expect my mother to just come begging you to take care of your own child." Gideon shoot, before inhaling deeply, trying to calm himself down again. "We both know that she is not this kind of woman."

"You're right, saying that is unfair. But I want your forgiveness."

"I don't know if there is a thing that you could that would make me feel better." Gideon confessed. "You want my forgiveness? Don't broke my mother's heart again. That's all I ask, and I'll try to be less rude."

"I have never intended to break anyone's heart, not your mother's and certainly not yours." Gold said, wanting more than anything to be able to place a hand on his son's shoulder, smoothing his tensed muscles, but he wasn't sure of how the boy could react to this, so he kept tipping his fingers together in an anxious habit. "Gideon, I've made the wrong the choice long ago, but I don't want to lose any more time. I want to be in your life."

Chuckling, he said: "I'm sixteen. The time for most father and son things is over."

"I am totally sure that we can find something to do together." Adam insisted.

He could even watch Star Wars all over again if that was what would make his son happy, because fixing things wouldn't be easy, but he was willing to try everything. The child he had seen in the photos earlier, didn't exist anymore and the only option he had was to make amends to that harshly teenager, whose lack of a fatherly figure had made such a big impact.

"Well, I'm not sure if I want to." Gideon shrugged, not looking at him.

"I thought you said that you wanted a father."

"Back then, when I was a child." The boy said in a bitterful voice. "I've lived a whole life without you, what difference would it make now to have you around?"

"Family it's what make us who we are." Gold replied. "You may think that I have nothing to offer you, but I can guarantee that I can prove you wrong."

"Alright, you can try it, then." Gideon agreed. "But, I just need to say that I am definitelly not into that parent shared custodity some people do, so don't you think that as a lawyer you'll get to make me go to Scotland every weekend or so, because this is never going to happen."

"Ok." Adam nodded, but then, something occured to him. He never had the intention of forcing the boy to start making him visits, but he loved Scotland, was completely passionated about Glasgow and wanted to share it with him. "Gideon?"

"Yes?"

"I would like to take you there. Not legally and for every weekend as you suggested, but maybe for a visit. There is a lot of places I wish to show you."

"Let's not push this." The boy said, but immediatly added: "I'm not saying that this is never going to happen."

"Just think about this."

Nodding, Gideon rose from the step were they were, starting to make his way to his room, when he suddenly stopped, turning back to face his face.

"Gold?" He called. "One last thing. I told you about my mother's heart, but I also expect you to keep your hands off her or this is never going to work."

He got inside the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him and Gold stood up, groaning with the pain in his knee and using the handrail to keep himself up as he slowly went downstairs.

"Adam!" Belle called when she saw him, rushing to help the man to walk to one of the chairs by the breakfast table, irritated that he was being so stupid in keeping walking without any support. "God, do you want to fall from the stairs? Take the damn cane!"

"I forgot about it, sweetheart." Adam mumbled, under a difficult breath.

"What Gideon said?" Belle asked, sitting on the empty chair by his side and massaging his hurt knee.

"He is very overprotective about you."

"I am sorry about that, but I haven't dated that much since I got pregnant and had him, but even when I did, it was very hard to keep a relationship for long when you have a son complaining and scaring your suitors." Belle gave him a little sided smile. "It's been just us his whole life and I think that he feels that he was to protect me somehow."

Gold fixed his gaze on her, so beautiful and relaxed, definitely not deserving a crippled old man. He wasn't going to turn his back on his son, but had no right to interfere in her life now.

"Yeah, but he was right, I was about to do something stupid when he entered the living room." Adam sighed. "I'm grateful that he interrupted us."

Pain passed through her face as she took her hand away from his knee, standing up. "Then, so do I."

"Belle - " he tried to say, because he didn't want her to spent the rest of the weekend avoiding him, he just wanted her to see that they were about to make a mistake and Gideon was right, she shouldn't have her heart broken by him again.

"We came here so you could get to know your son a little bit, and that's what we are going to do." She said, as harsh as her boy use to sound. "I'll just get my purse so we can go to the pier."

He watched her climb the stairs and Neal appeared by the kitchen's door, muttering: "Always saying the wrong thing, huh?"


	11. Chapter 11

Walking to the bedroom she had taken as hers, Belle found her purse and picked her phone from there, immediately calling her best friend before a panic attack could reach her. Each ring made her heart beat faster, her eyes blinking repeatedly to fight against the tears, the need to speak to someone who would be able to light her thoughts, almost becoming a painful thing. When the other woman picked up, Belle rushed to the point even before she could end the "hello" she was saying.

"Ruby, I've made a mistake."

"Wait, just a minute." Ruby asked, and there seemed to be voices speaking loudly behind her, what made Belle imagine that, if she wasn't in a pub she should be visiting some of Dorothy's friends. It took her a while to speak again, but when she did, the noise was gone. "Have you already sleep with him? Was it so bad? He didn't last or - "

Rolling her eyes, Belle leaned against the wall behind her, asking herself what was the problem with her friends. Maybe they were just a bunch of glee thirty-somethings that associated other people's happiness with a satisfying relationship. Or a satisfying night. Whatever it was, that didn't apply to Belle.

"Why everybody keeps thinking I am going to sleep with Adam?" She asked with disbelief.

"So, you didn't sleep with him?"

"Obviously not! Dear God, Ruby!"

On the other end of the line, her best friend sighed, exasperated. "Then what happened?"

She was about to sound like a teenager, but she didn't know if she really cared about that, Belle was desperate, because she didn't know what to do anymore or how to deal with her feelings.

"I think I still love him, but he almost kissed me and claimed it to be a mistake."

"Belle, dear beauty, you need to stop." Ruby's soft voice came empathic through the phone. "Don't freak out, ok? Just keep acting normal and looking gorgeous. He will change his mind and then you'll have something really interesting to tell me."

"Not helping."

"You can always come back to Will. I've heard that he is still into you, just afraid of Gideon."

A gasp left her mouth, because she couldn't believe that Ruby was mocking her about Will, the man whose relationship with her had been the most terrible joke the universe could have done. They met at a pub she went to have a glass of wine after a hard day at work about a year and a half ago, he was trying to forget his fiancée, a rich woman called Anastasia, that broke up with him to marry another. Belle liked the fact that he was able to make her laugh and feel light.

But their romance didn't last more than three months. Gideon hated the guy and let it clear from the very start, doing whatever he could to keep Will away. He didn't have to worry for longer, though, as Anastasia came back to Will's life and he just simply stopped seeing Belle, who only realised she wasn't going to see him ever again, when she was already sat alone in another pub. There was no chance he could still be into her and even if he did, Belle was long over him.

"You are not funny."

"Have you ever thought about trying women then?"

Her jaw dropped. Not that there was a reason for that, since Ruby dated women ever since they met and had already suggested that very same thing a billion times, but Belle didn't think that would work for her. What she would like trying right now was wearing a suit, holding a cane and was dangerously older than her.

"Ruby Lucas, you are the worst friend ever."

"That worked for me, I don't see why it wouldn't for you."

Laughing, Belle still felt insecure, but was relaxed and knew that she could just put on a smiley face, go downstairs and pray for the weekend to pass quickly, just like she told her son to do so. "I'll end the call right now."

"Details are important!" Ruby remembered, eager for something to entertain her when Belle came back to London.

Not caring to answer that, she rang out the phone, just as Gideon entered her room.

"Hey mama, who was it?"

"Your aunt Ruby being silly." Belle answered, smiling at him as she slipped the phone inside her bag and grabbed his arm. "Come on, babe, we have a long day ahead."

They went down to meet Neal and Gold and then, they locked the house and went straight to the pier. Earlier during the breakfast, Belle tried to convince Adam to go there with the car, so he wouldn't have to walk too much and cause himself pain, because of the bad knee, but he assured her that he was going to completely fine and a walk wasn't going to take him down. She didn't argue a lot, since she didn't know how things worked with his leg, but after Belle saw the sore on his face when he climbed up the stairs without the cane, she wasn't sure if they still should do this. However, she didn't find courage inside herself to suggest taking the car, so they just walked in silence.

Seeing the sea had always pleased her. It remembered her of good days with her mother in Australia, it made her nostalgic and brought her the wish to see the country she left many years ago to never come back. London, that initially was just supposed to be her stay during college, had become her home very quickly, and even though she would appreciate visiting her childhood country, she couldn't picture herself leaving England forever anymore.

The day was beautiful, less cloudy than most days around there, the weather starting to get hot as the summer time approached slowly. Belle couldn't help but want to take off her shoes and ran through the rocky beach until her feet touched the cold water, just like she had done in the past with a really smaller version of Neal by her side, his hand gripping at hers as they laughed and splashed water on each other before taking Adam with them and soaking his whole suit. Good memories were those, belonging to a time where she swore her happiness would last forever. Bad thing she didn't live in a fairy tale, because in the real world there were no happily ever afters.

"Hot dogs!" Neal exclaimed pointing at snack bar, almost echoing the child she was remembering about just a minute ago. "Do you want one, brother?"

Gideon shrugged as if he wasn't giving it much attention, but followed Neal as he started to walk to get the food. "Yeah, I'm hungry."

Sighing deeply, Belle leaned against the guard-rail, looking down at the beach, her gaze fixed in the waves. "Alone again," she muttered.

"Aye." Gold agreed, glancing at the snack bar where the boys disappeared to, before taking a step in her direction, his hand resting at the rail near her arm. "Listen, I'm sorry for what I've said earlier. I didn't mean that, I just thought that I shouldn't be messing with your life again."

"Trying to protect me never really worked before." Belle chuckled without any humour.

"I guess you're right." There was bitterness and a little self-loathing that only someone who truly knew him, could recognize in his voice. "If I just gave us more chances, we wouldn't be here today."

"Making the same mistakes we did in this place so long ago it's not what I want, Adam." She answered, finally meeting his brown eyes, the words came harshly, but also, full of pain. "I just wanted you, back then, I wanted to be chosen, I tried to say this a lot of times but you never listened. You just went away."

His fingers made their way to her arm, closing around her wrist as his thumb rubbed circles in her skin, the tender touch almost breaking her heart in tiny pieces. She wanted to throw her arms around his neck so badly, that she had to convince herself to stay still.

"I was afraid, Belle. What Milah did, broke me, mostly because she didn't care a bit for Neal. I wasn't sure if I should start it all again so soon, even though I loved you and knew that you were nothing like her, I still had this urge to back away. I told myself that you were young and you would find someone better, with less problems and closer to your age."

"Never happened." Belle replied, shaking her head. "The guys I knew after you, were all a bunch of selfish idiots. None of them acted like men, just grownup schoolboys."

Truth be told, all her relationships sucked, Will was just the last one to her list of failures. Belle didn't date a lot, because she didn't have time or disposition for it, and the times she did just made her understand how precious it could be to stay single. There was this french guy, Gaston she met when Gideon was three, that just irritated her with the fact that he barely opened a book or two during his whole life. She had no luck in the romantic department.

"What about you?" Belle managed to ask Gold, a little afraid of his answer. "No woman got your heart?"

"My office in Glasgow got my heart, no one else." He said with a half-smile. "I tried a couple of dates, but nothing lasted more than a night."

"Well, I hope you don't have another lost child around there." Belle laughed, but his face went pale at the thought and she freed her wrist from his hand to touch his shoulder with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, bad joke."

"I don't usually take the risk of impregnating anyone, dearie." Adam said with confidence.

Nodding, Belle muttered under her breath: "But you took with me."

"Yeah, I did."

Naïve she was in the past, stupid to believe in unsafe methods, insisting to feel him completely on her very first time with no barrier between them, so it would be more special and what she got was a baby, nine months later. Belle sighed looking around the pier to avoid Gold's eyes, knowing that she couldn't face him with the remembrance of their first lovemaking passing through her mind, when she got caught with a sight of something very interesting and tapped at his arm softly, pointing at a little shop with a wave of her head.

"Oh, dear Lord, look at that!"

"What?" Adam asked, trying to find what she was pointing at as Belle started to walk and drag him with her to a hanger full of beachy clothes.

"Black Hawaiian shirts!" She said in tone of wonder, taking one of them from the hanger to show him. "I need to get this."

The shirt was a black in lighter black piece with those horrible prints that were Adam Gold's worse nightmare, a grimace immediately filled his face.

"Belle - "

"Imagine Gideon with one of those!" Belle said, cheerfully picking another shirt from the hanger, but this time one that had golden prints on the black fabric. "And you of course, with this one here. We just need to find the right ones for Neal and I now."

"I'm not going to wear this!" Adam said with wide eyes.

"Oh, you are, and I'm buying you a pair of jeans."

"No way."

Belle went inside the shop, completely happy with her new discover and started to look into a pile of dark jeans, but she apparently didn't find what she wanted, because she went to another that had pieces made of a light-blue fabric. Adam just looked horrified at everything, loving his suits even more at the sight of every knew clothes he laid his eyes on.

"It's for sale. I don't think my day can get better than that." Belle said, picking a pair of jeans that had a red tag and pushing to him alongside with the black and gold shirt. "Try these."

"No."

"Yes." She insisted. "Go on."

She narrowed her eyes, giving him her most dangerous glance, that let it very clear that it was a command that he should obey, so Adam snorted and grabbed the clothes from her, going to the dresser as she laughed to herself and picked another black Hawaiian shirt, one with dark-blue stamps, before she found one for herself that had the same golden print that Adam's. Maybe he was right, she thought, and they were ridiculous, but no one was stopping her to take a picture with all of them being ridiculous with her.

"I'm feeling weird." Gold said, opening the door of the dresser to let her see him wearing anything other than his suits for the first time in her life.

Belle felt breathless. He looked so handsome that she had no words to say how much it affected her, the jeans fitted perfectly, the shirt was unbuttoned on the highest part, showing his smooth chest and making her want to ran her hands thought the triangle of skin, kissing his neck and sinking her fingers on the long stripes of his greyer hair. Damn Jefferson, he knew it all the time, she was going to fall on Gold's arms sooner or later and now she was completely sure of it.

"You look great." Belle swallowed.

"I'm putting on my suit again."

"Adam!" She protested as he closed the door, ending her moment of contemplation.

"You are not winning this, sweetheart."

"I'm buying those clothes, whether you like it or not!" She warned him, trying to think about another way to make him put on those clothes again, Belle placed the clothes on the counter, smiling at the seller when her phone started to ring loudly and she looked inside her purse for a few instants before reaching it, Gideon's number glowing on the screen. "Hey, sweetie."

"Mama, where are you, Neal and I are looking for you and Gold."

"We are inside a shop." She informed. "Wait for me where we were before."

"Right, be quick." Gideon asked before ending the call.

It took another long moment, but Gold finally opened the door, leaving the dresser on his suit once more. Belle picked the clothes from him, putting them on the pile that the seller was already packing.

"Can you wear at least the shirt later?" She asked, blinking her eyes sweetly.

Gold narrowed his eyes. "What do I win with that?"

"You'll never know if you don't try."


	12. Chapter 12

Gideon kept looking around the pier, trying to find any sign of his parents, while Neal bite at his hot dog, chewing slowly and savouring the food, totally fine with the fact that Gold and Belle had went on a walk all alone. Actually, he thought that it was pretty good, because if Belle dragged his father somewhere then it meant she had forgiven him for what he said earlier.

Gold was lucky that she was a forgiving person, because he had an hability for ruining things, what in Neal's opinion was probably the reason why he never got another real relationship after Belle. He had time to finish his whole snack before they saw the couple walking towards them, Adam leaning on his cane as he talked with Belle, who had some plastic bags on her arm.

"Where were you?" Gideon asked, immediately.

Belle rolled her eyes. "At a shop, I've told you."

She had a new shining light in her eyes that wasn't there the last time he saw his mother just a while ago, but that Gideon didn't appreciate to see there, because it got him slightly concerned about what it might meant. Neal, otherwise, thought it was great as long as it meant that she was giving his father another chance even after he was an idiot with her this morning. Adam looked relaxed too, one hand gripping at his cane while the other remained on Belle's arm, stroking it almost unconsciously, as grinned at his boys.

"Yeah, you better start to fear now, because your mother bought something for you." Gold said, pointing at the bags on her arm.

"Really?" Gideon raised an eyebrow. "And what is it?"

"A surprised for later." Belle smiled, tapping a hand on the bags, before letting a childish smile cross her face when she looked back at Adam. "Can we get ice cream now?"

"Lunch first." Gold bounced. "But it's early for that, so why don't we take a walk to the coloured houses?"

"You want to go there?" Neal asked, surprised. "We had to convince you the last time!"

He shrugged. "We can go there or stay here and you can open what Belle got for you too."

His father wasn't the greatest fan of shopping, he actually only got to do it very few times to buy things he considered extremely important, like his suits, however Neal couldn't even Begin to imagine what Belle could have bought that could bother his father so much.

"You're scaring me. Does she have a gun inside those bags?"

"Very funny." Belle complained, narrowing her eyes and walking towards them to grab her son's arm. "Coloured houses. Let's go."

The four of them walked slowly through the beach, seeing the other people pass, busy with their own lives, there weren't as many of them circulating as it usually did during the summer, but there were enough to get Gold with the impression that it was too crowded. Brighton was one of the nearest beaches to London and the place everyone headed to when the hot days came, so a lot of tourists used to enjoy their trips to go there too.

People with cameras in their hands was the thing you mostly got to see around there, because in the age of technology all people can thing about is posting updates of where they were in social media. A loud song started to come from one of his pockets and Belle turned around with an intrigued look.

"What is this sound?" She asked, looking around to try to find the noise. "It seems a piano melody."

Reaching for his old flip model he narrowed his eyebrows, recognizing Cora's number as he mumbled: "My phone."

"You still have this old thing?" A laugh escaped Belle when her gaze fell to the phone on his hands. "Really, Adam? You certainly have money to buy a better one."

"I'm not fond of new technology." He answered, rejecting the call.

Cora was someone he didn't want to hear a thing about, specially right now when things seemed to be so good with Belle and the boys. She was already going to continue being a nuisance when he went back to his office, so he wasn't willing to hear anything she had to say when he could keep enjoying the day.

"I tried to make him buy a smartphone for years, then I gave up." Neal pointed out.

Gideon took an attentive look at the phone on his father's hand. "Does this thing have internet access?"

"Of course it does!" Gold replied, pretending to be offended.

"I think this is older than me." The youngest son said.

"Oh, yeah, believe me, it is." Belle agreed.

The song started to come from the phone again, when Cora insisted in keep calling, probably knowing that it was going to bother him. Adam snorted, completely frustrated and looking for the red button.

"I'll turn this thing off."

"Who is calling you with such despair?" Belle questioned. "It seems to be important."

"Believe me, it's not, just a certain someone with the great ability of bothering me."

"Look, the houses!" Neal yelled, running to the small houses and picking his phone from his pocket.

He had promised Emma all the pictures of interesting thing that he could get. His fiancée had never been to England before, even though she lived in Scotland for a long time during college, she had gone to another countries near there, but never got the chance of getting to there. Belle rushed to join him, playing the enthusiastic tourist while they talked.

Gold looked at the two of them in wonder. "I feel like I am around three five-year-olds."

"I act as expected for my age." Gideon shrugged. "They are the kids."

Tapping his free hand on the boy's arm, Adam let a side-smile cross his face, because he knew how much Gideon was right. He was way more serious than Neal and Belle would ever be and it reminded him from himself. "Yeah, you got that from me, son."

"Sure." His boy smiled, eyes fixed in Neal taking pictures of Belle in front of a light mint coloured house. "Don't you want to take a picture?"

"No, I'm not much of a recording moments person, I prefer to live them."

"Me too." Gideon said, taking his phone from his jeans' pocket and clicking on the camera icon. "But I think just one photo won't kill us, right?"

"I think not."

He was totally unprepared for that as Gideon had been cold ever since they met, but the boy was asking for them to take a picture together and it got him stupefied for a moment, only staring at him, but Gideon ended dragging him to the front of a yellow house and lifted his phone, capturing an image of them. The first image of father and son together. Adam had a smirk on his lips and tears on his eyes at this thought, but his boy seemed to be happy with what they got, so he was going to be too.

"It looks good."

"Yeah, it does." Gideon agreed. "So, what is the thing with the ice-cream here? I've been to Brighton before, but my mama never seemed so excited about any freezing dessert."

"It's an uncommon shop we've found in the summer we spent here, that has all kind of weird flavours. Your mother and Neal loved it."

It was like the memory was fresh in his mind and he could almost see Belle entering the ice-cream shop with little Neal holding her hand, jumping happily as he pointed at all the flavours he wanted to try. They sat at a table for about three hours, talking and eating a giant amount of ice-cream, deciding at the end that the carrot cake one was certainly the best.

"Well, I'm eager to see the place."

"I think you'll like it." Gold said.

"Can I ask you a question?"

That sounded like danger, but Adam wasn't going to deny his son the answers he wanted from him, even though he knew that his questions could hurt him. "Sure, anything you want, son."

"Why are you doing this trip? It is because Neal insisted or because you feel like it is some kind of duty?"

"I'm afraid my reasons may be a little different from that." Gold sighed. "I really want to know you Gideon, that's why I came."

"Did you - " Gideon started, a little hesitant. "Did you ever want another child?"

This question seemed silly, but Adam could see why Gideon wanted to know that, he thought that he was just an incident his father had recently discovered and might not be happy about. For most men Gold knew, that would certainly be the case, but not for him.

"I did. I was married once, to Neal's mother and by that time I thought that we would have the perfect family, you know? I thought we would have at least three children and raise them together, but that never really happened and when I met your mother, I think that there might have been a moment, where I looked at her and thought we could have a beautiful future, the one I never had with Milah."

"But then you ran away."

Everything Gold could do was to nod. "Then I ran away."

A little further, Neal and Belle were laughing out loud about something he was showing her on his phone. They observed them in silence as Belle stopped in front of a pink house and made a silly face to the camera while Neal took the picture, right before both exploded into laughs again.

"Should I be afraid of your first son stealing my mother?" Gideon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. They just always got along very well."

"I see." The boy contemplated, getting lost in his own mind for a while. By the time he spoke again, his voice had changed its tone and he almost sounded sad. "When my mother found out that I was a boy, she wanted to call me Adam, but then she changed her mind and made Aiden my second name. I thought you should know."

Gaze fixing on Belle's beautiful features, Gold felt the need to cry. Of course, he didn't, but the need was there, burning his eyes and making his heart race inside his chest, because even having that baby all alone, Belle still thought of him. She had a perfect clever mind, she knew that he wouldn't have wanted his son to be named after him, but she still wanted Gideon to have something from his father and she came with Aiden, that both resembled Adam and Baeden, Neal's second name.

"Thank you." Gold said, with real gratitude and shared something with him: "The book your mother took your first name from, is in my desk at the office back in Glasgow. She gave me a copy when I left because it was her favourite. I think I know each quote of each page of it by now."

Opening his mouth to answer, Gideon tried to say something but the loud sound of his mother and bother's laugh made him stop and look at them. Belle was pointing at them, looking more childish as she never did before.

"You promised you would pay my lunch, Gold!" She shouted from where she was standing near to Neal.

They came walking back with smiley faces, straightening her hair as it had escaped from her ponytail. Adam leaned on his cane, admiring her beauty as he gave her an intrigued look. "The boys ate hot dogs half an hour ago. They can't possibly be hungry."

"I am!" Neal protested. "I'm always hungry."

"So it seems." Gideon complained. "But if we get lunch now and then the ice-cream, can we please just find something more interesting to do than to take pictures in front of coloured houses?"

"I've read that there is an amusement park something near here." Neal said. "We can ask someone at the restaurant where it is and just go there."

"Or we can follow the giant wheel." Gideon said, pointing at the big round form that was set behind some buildings.

"Or that." Belle laughed. "But I want fish and chips and nobody is going to private me from getting them."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note: So I'll be updating this story weekly now, just as I'm doing on AO3 since I've reached the last written chapter. You'll probably be getting new chapters every Sunday or Monday. In the mean time, if anyone is interest in sending me Rumbelle prompts, I'm always happy to write anything you want me to.**_


	13. Chapter 13

After they finished lunch, Belle guided them through the streets to the ice-cream shop, as she was the only one who still remembered the route. It had been a long time since she had last been there, but the memories attached to that place were so important, that it was impossible for her to forget. Belle seemed to be seeing past ghosts of them walking around every corner of that city, coming to haunt her and making her heart race.

The ghosts were at the pier, and the memory of Neal pointing at the seagulls was too fresh, just like it had happened yesterday. On the beach, she could picture the way she was happily gripping at Gold's arm, trying to convince him to get to the water. And now, walking slowly to the shop, she saw herself kissing him when his son was not looking, right before little Neal asked for ice cream, and they discovered that wonderful place.

Glancing at Adam, she got the nervous look in his eyes, knowing that he was remembering about the same things. For a moment, Belle wanted to take Gideon's arm off her shoulders and go to him, but they had already crossed a thin line earlier that day, and she didn't want to give into another impulse that could ruin things again.

"So, this is the place?" Gideon asked when they stopped in front of the shop, looking at the glass entrance with a raised eyebrow. "I thought it would be bigger."

"Don't judge it for the size," Belle replied, "it has the most wonderful ice cream in the world."

Neal nodded, grabbing the doorknob and turning it. "She is right and I'm about to start trying."

The boys quickly entered the shop, going straight to the showcase to see which flavours were on display as Belle followed then, holding the door open to let Adam in. There were only four tables there and three of them were already taken. Belle stood where she was, waiting for Gold to go after the boys, but he didn't do it, instead, he kept staring at her.

"Did you like the restaurant?" he asked.

"Yeah, the food is spectacular!" She exclaimed.

At the sound of their awkward conversation, Gideon turned around. "Aren't you coming?"

"I already know what I want, so I don't have to choose," Belle explained, before asking for the carrot cake one from the attendant. "What about you, Adam?"

He took a step forward, leaning on his cane, then he looked down at all the flavours ponderously. Belle get her bowl from the attendant, smiling at the dessert that she hadn't ate in so long but was one of her favourites.

"White chocolate with strawberry," Gold concluded.

"Really?" She questioned, "not carrot cake?"

A smirk tugged at his lips, "I intend to steal yours."

"I'm not sharing," Belle said with a grin, walking away to sit at the only vacant table.

It took them a moment, but Adam and the boys followed her, taking the other three seats. Neal was already eating his ice-cream, but Gideon glanced intriguingly between his parents.

"Don't be selfish," Gold told her.

"Alright," Neal mumbled. "Now let's see Gideon's reaction."

Gideon rolled his eyes at his brother's expectant look, his brown eyes shining with an excitement that seemed completely pointless to him. He moved his plastic spoon to grab some of his carrot cake ice-cream, shovelling it into his mouth. Belle and Gold watched him as well, waiting for his reaction.

Gideon shrugged, "no big deal."

"No big deal?" Neal repeated. "It's the best ice-cream in the world!"

"It's not," Gideon countered.

"It is," his elder brother insisted.

"Can we please eat in silence?" Gold said, before taking some of Belle's ice cream.

"Hey!" She protested.

"I've told you that I would steal yours," Gold remarked, batting his eyelashes playfully.

Neal rolled his eyes, shutting up and beginning to eat again. He ended up getting another two flavours, and as much as Gideon had complained, he did the very same. All Belle and Gold did was laugh, stealing each other's ice-cream like children would do, some people glancing at them skeptically.

None of them cared about that. They ended eating and went out, following the giant wheel's form to find the amusement park that Neal had talked about.

"Don't you think that you are too old for amusement parks?" Gold asked, gazing at the boys.

"Of course not," Neal said, shaking his head. He looked around the park and a tent arrested his attention, making him tap Gideon's shoulder and point at it with a movement of his chin. "I bet I can get a teddy bear before you do."

"And what are you going to do with a teddy bear?" Gideon inquired, furrowing a brow.

"Just give it to your mother," Neal shrugged.

"Oh, no way!" Gideon bristled, taking his wallet from his jean's pocket. "I am going to get it for her."

The two of them got in front of the tent that had some targets to be struck down with heavy yellow balls. Belle contemplated the sight, watching the boys talking with the owner of the tent as she bumped her shoulder against Gold's.

"They would have been competitive if they had grown up together," she replied.

"I think you're right," he parroted.

Gideon payed for the first try and got three balls. He threw them at the targets, one by one, but two of them missed it and the other didn't hit the target with enough strength.

"Loser!" Neal guffawed.

An expression of pure frustration crossed the younger boy's face. "Do better then, brother."

"I will," Neal said proudly.

Neal got the balls and made his try, but all of them missed the target, making him snort, and his brother choke back his laughter.

"Loser," Gideon coughed inconspicuously in his British accent.

Behind then, Belle didn't know if she should be as amused as she was with their little competition, but she never had siblings herself and always thought that it would have been good for Gideon to have grown up with Neal, even though she knew that it wasn't a possibility. She looked at Adam out of the corner of her eye, seeing him grab his cane more firmly and walk towards his sons.

"I'll show you boys how to do it," Gold said with a smirk.

"Oh, I want to see this," Belle giggled.

The owner of the tent was looking at them, like he definitely thought that this strange fierce determination, was some weird kind of family thing that seemed to have taken over all of them. Little did he know that he was actually right. Gold got his wallet and opened it, playing with the pounds which were hidden inside.

"I want a try," Gold confirmed, flashing him the bills.

"It's ten pounds, sir," the owner affirmed.

Raising an eyebrow, he slowly turned around, looking at the boys with an incredulous expression that made Belle want to laugh.

"You spent twenty pounds on this thing?" He asked with wide eyes.

Adam Gold had never let his son want for nothing, but he had a very defined idea of what was worth his money and what was not. Playing a carnival game at an amusement park was definitely not it.

"I paid with the money I receive when I work in the bookshop with mama," Gideon defended himself.

"You know I used your money," Neal mumbled. "I won't even try for an excuse."

"Ok, ten pounds," Gold said, rolling his eyes and passing the money to the man inside the tent and grabbing the yellow balls. "I'll get the freaking bear."

He had three tries and focused on the target, aiming the ball very carefully before hurling it. The first one, if intentionally or not only, Gold could say, passed very near the owner's head, making him jump and get out of his way, but the other two of them hit the targets, striking them down, causing a happy scream to leave Belle's mouth as she threw her arms around his neck, almost making them both fall to the ground. They would have if Gold hadn't grabbed onto the carnival stand's counter.

"Yes!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

"I can't believe it," Neal muttered.

"This is not possible!" Gideon whispered.

The owner swallowed hard, staring at them. "Which bear do you want?"

Belle took an attentive look at the stuffed animals, tapping her finger against her chin, contemplatively.

"The pink one," she announced.

"A pink bear?" Gold questioned as the game attendant handed the toy to her.

"It's cute," she shrugged, cuddling the stuffed animal.

"Bears are not pink," he countered.

"It is a stuffed animal, Adam, not a real one," she rolled her eyes. "However, thank you for getting this for me."

She felt his free hand coming up to stroke her backside, and Belle seemed unable to breathe. He was walking slightly unbalanced, struggling to keep her by his side as he used his cane to keep up on his feet, but it wouldn't have been more special if he could walk without it, like he did in the past, because their shoulders were brushing against each other with every new step and his hand splayed against her back, giving Belle a new kind of joy. The feelings bubbling inside her made butterflies swarm in her abdomen.

"Anyone want to go to the rollercoaster?" Gideon asked, excited for the first time since they arrived.

"I do," Neal replied.

Inhaling deeply, Belle nodded. "Let's do this."

"Really?" Gold gazed at her questionably.

"Really," she said with an encouraging smile. "Get ready to spend at least another ten pounds on this."

"Amusement parks," he grumbled, letting her drag him to the rollercoaster's line.

There was a monitor collecting the money and guiding the people to the cars. He allowed Gideon and Neal to enter the rollercoaster, but when he got to Gold and Belle, he took a long assessing look at his cane before deciding to speak.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you can't enter the rollercoaster with the cane," the attendant replied.

"Why not?" Gold inquired.

"We have a loop," he explained, pointing at the curved trails, "it could fall and hurt someone."

"Alright, since I'm not allowed to take it with me, I bet you won't mind holding it for a while," Adam answered with a grin, taking the toy from Belle's hand and passing it to him, along with his cane. "And take the bear too, please."

"But - " the man tried to speak, but Gold handed him the money and started to move in the direction of an empty car, leaning on Belle to avoid falling down.

"I don't believe you some times," she whispered, giggling girlishly.

"Neither do I," Neal agreed.

They spent most of their day there, and Belle had some fun going twice on the teacups. But when the afternoon was almost over, they found themselves sitting on a stool, looking tiredly at the amusement park. Gold suggested they go to a supermarket and buy some food, so he could cook dinner for them. Belle knew that he wasn't complaining because he was a very stubborn man, but his leg was probably sore by now after a long day of walking.

So, buying everything they needed at the first supermarket they found, the four of them headed home. Gold and Belle put away the food, while Neal and Gideon went to their rooms to take showers. Adam was excitedly talking about the meal he was going to prepare when his eldest son appeared in the kitchen.

"Hey papa, I forgot that I had promised my friend August a visit while I was in Brighton, so he called asking me to go to his apartment. Is it okay if I take the car?"

"Neal, this weekend was your idea," Gold accused, afraid of having to spend the rest of the evening alone with Belle and Gideon. "You can't possibly be backing out."

"I'm not backing out," he muttered exactly like Adam did, attempting to keep Belle from hearing what they were saying. "I'll take Gideon with me."

"Did you just say my name?" The boy asked coming downstairs in a pair of dark-blue pyjamas.

Turning back to see him, Neal smiled, tapping his brother's back. "Yeah, go change, I'm taking you to August's house with me!"

"Who the hell is August?" Gideon quizzed.

Belle looked up at the sound of her son's harsh tone. She was trying to pretend that she wasn't listening to their whispered conversation, but if Gideon was going to be rude with his father and half-brother again, then she would need to interfere.

"A friend from college," Neal explained.

"And why do I have to go visit him with you?" Gideon probed.

"Because you're my brother and we should do more things together," Neal answered.

Gideon, however wasn't buying that idea. He knew very well what Neal was doing again, trying to leave Gold and Belle alone for the thousandth time, in an attempt to see if things could work out between them, and he was pretty sure that they couldn't and shouldn't. But with his mother going to such great efforts to make him like these people, he decided that she should be the one to handle her own fate as he looked directly at her.

"Mama?" He said, clearly as an unspoken question that they both understood.

"You can go if you want to," Belle said, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. "It's your choice."

"Please," Neal begged.

Sighing, Gideon made his way back to the staircase.

"I think I'm going to regret it later," he muttered under his breath.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:** This chapter was revised by my amazing beta Ethereal Wishes._

 _I'm really sorry for the delay, but I do hope you get to enjoy this chapter._


	14. Chapter 14

_**Author's Note:** This chapter was revised by my amazing beta Ethereal Wishes._

* * *

Gideon wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing. He could sense the regret coming right away when he entered the car, seeing Neal start driving, taking them away from the house. A long deep sigh left him as he leaned against the seat, facing the road as he took his cell-phone out of his pocket, unsure if he should message one of his friends right now, deciding it was better to do it later.

He was preoccupied with the fact that his mother was going to stay alone in that giant house with only Adam Gold as company, and as much as the guy was trying too hard to be cool, Gideon still didn't trust him. Maybe he wasn't the person he expected him to be, but he was still the man who broke his mother's heart and left her, and nothing he could ever do was going to change that. As the great pessimist that he was, Gideon was thinking that the day had been too good to be true, and something must go wrong before it ends, to make them realise that in real life there were no happily ever afters.

Not that he was expecting one, all he actually wanted was for Monday morning to arrive so he and Belle could head back to their flat and close this book, since he was pretty sure that after the weekend ended, he was never going to see his father and half-brother again. Then, their lives would be back to normal.

A cough came from the seat beside him, and he looked at the other boy out of the corner of his eyes.

"Can you see the route for me?" Neal asked, pointing at the cell-phone that he was still holding.

"So, there is really a friend called August?" Gideon returned, surprised, opening the GPS app.

"Of course," the other brother said, concentrating on the road, reaching to grab a piece of paper that was in his jacket pocket and passing it to him. "Did you think that I was lying?"

Looking down at the paper, Gideon copied the address that was written there on the the app, opening the full route from where they were to August's house.

"Kind of," he shrugged. "Well, you clearly wanted to leave your father alone with my mother."

"Our father," Neal corrected him. "And yeah, I wanted that too, but I did really promise a visit to August."

For Gideon, it all sounded extremely absurd. He didn't know what exact reasons Neal had to want to get Gold and Belle together, but he knew that he didn't agree to it, because she deserved better. She deserved someone that would love her without any hesitation, that would do it forever. And he was pretty sure that this person was not his father.

"Impressive," Gideon muttered irritatedly. "Don't you see how wrong this could go? Not for Gold, certainly, but for my mother."

Neal inhaled deeply, taking a quick look on the route that the app on his phone was showing to see which road he should take, thinking that his little brother was certainly one of the most difficult people he had ever met.

"Listen, kid, you think you know everything about their story together, but you don't. They deserve a second chance."

Snorting, Gideon tried to convince himself that Neal was just one of those stupid people that had too much faith in things. Maybe he was just too bitter, but Gideon had grown up around people who kept losing all they had, so hope wasn't a feeling he didn't bother holding on to.

"My mother doesn't deserve another heartbreak," Gideon remarked.

"I agree. I don't want to see Belle hurt either," Neal stated amicably. "Just believe me, I got a feeling that this time things will be different."

"Yeah, maybe she won't get pregnant again," he mumbled jokingly, but by the time the words made sense in his mind, a million bad thoughts came to haunt him and made Gideon feel anxious and fearful. "Wait, what if they - "

"Do not even start," Neal warned. "We are going to August's house and you are not convincing me to go back on this. Stop worrying, they are adults."

A bitter laugh came from his throat, because adults had the habit of doing more wrong choices, just because they thought they had full control of their lives. Then they ended up regretting it sooner or later, and Gideon knew his mother was an expert at doing things she would later regret. He just hoped she had enough presence of mind to not fall into Gold's arms again.

"That's what has me concerned."

* * *

Belle had to admit, she had never in her whole life felt more awkward than she did while having dinner with Gold in the house which was full of memories of them. The remembrances were literally everywhere, even in the kitchen, and she felt her heart racing each time they shared a glance. She knew that Adam was uncomfortable too, because from the moment the boys left, he started to sound too polite, not that he didn't before, but now it was exaggeratedly, and he seemed to be trying to stay away from her.

He had cooked a delicious dinner for them, a mix of mushrooms and vegetables, accompanied by grilled meat. She set the table for them, and they ate, sharing small talks and some wine, always careful with what they were saying or what they were doing. None of them wanted to cross some invisible line that would bring them back to that morning's argument.

When they finished, Belle insisted on washing the dishes, and Adam insisted in helping her, so they did the work together before moving to the living room with their glasses still in hand. She sat on the couch, observing him accommodate himself in the armchair.

"I have always appreciated your cooking skills. Your food is amazing," Belle gushed.

"Well, I'm glad that you got to enjoy the dinner," he reverberated, a soft smile playing upon his lips.

"Let's see if there is any interesting movie playing on TV," Belle said, grabbing the control, turning the TV on and starting to zip through the channels in search of a distraction. She halted on an old romance that seemed to be replayed every time the channel had the chance to do so, but one she always ended up watching anyway. "This one is interesting. What do you think?"

"I'll watch anything you want, sweetheart," Adam replied.

The sound of the nickname that he used for her, made Belle's heart leap with joyously. She loved his husky voice, his beautiful accent, and when it brought to surface the memory of how he sounded on the edge of his passion with her in his arms, Belle blushed and drank all the wine that was left in her glass, placing it on the coffee table.

"You know," she started, trying not to look at his eyes, preferring to keep her gaze fixed on the TV. "You still haven't tried on those clothes I got you."

"And I'm not thinking about ever wearing them," Gold chuckled.

"You're breaking my heart, Adam," Belle whined, pressing a hand to her heart, as if truly upset. "You looked handsome in them."

Shaking his head, Gold disagreed. He could never understand why she had fell for him at first, but praising him now was certainly madness in his mind. Of course, he saw the way she looked at him that morning at the shop, when he showed up in those ridiculous clothes, with a hint of something he recognized from the past, but he had to be mistaken.

"How can you think that I am handsome even after all this time? I was old when we met, but now…" he made a flourish with his hands in his own direction, self-loathing as always. "Well, take a look at me."

"I'm looking and I think you've aged very well."

His breath got caught in his throat at the intensity of her gaze. Adam didn't know what to say or if he should say anything, so the only thing he managed to mumble was: "The movie."

"I forgot," she mumbled embarrassingly, training her eyes back on the screen.

They finished watching the movie in companionable silence, Gold wanting more than anything for the boys to return home, or God only knew, he was going to be driven insane before the night ended. When the credits started rolling, and Belle stared at the screen with teary-eyes for the typically sweet ending, he starred at his glass nervously.

"Do you want more wine?" Adam asked.

"Why not?" She answered with a shrug, standing up and heading to the kitchen with him.

Both headed straight to the refrigerator, Belle opened it and took out the bottle of wine. He didn't realize that he was so close until she turned around and bumped into him, nearly letting her glass fall.

"Sorry," he said.

"Sorry," Belle mumbled at the same time, laughing when she realised that both of them had said the same thing.

Taking his glass, she placed it on the counter and filled with the wine, alongside with hers. He took it, lifting it with a thin smile as she did the same before he took a sip, feeling the mauve alcohol bubbling in their mouths. Belle breathed in, leaning against the counter as she looked at him with the shyest smile playing upon her lips.

"Adam, do you remember what you were looking for when you entered my bookshop all those years ago?" she questioned after a moment.

"An adventure. A book capable of making me forget my problems, you gave me Her Handsome Hero," he answered with a smirk. "I told Gideon this same morning that it is still my favourite."

"It's mine too. But I guess you found exactly what you were looking for that summer and it wasn't in the book," Belle suggested, gaze fixed on the wine, seeing the condensing on the glass. "We had quite a good adventure, huh?"

Gold nodded, remembering those incredible days, that he never wanted to end. Most of the time, after he went back to Scotland, Adam used to think that they were just a distant heavenly dream.

"Yeah, we did," he agreed. "I've never felt more fearless in my life than I did in those days with you."

"Neither have I," she confessed. "I was just a bookworm, never got out too much, never had a lot of fun, but that summer changed me. I could be just a bubbly silly girl when I was with you and the rest of the world didn't matter."

Looking up, she realised how close they were. Belle placed her glass on the counter, taking a dangerous step towards him, nearly closing the gap between their bodies. Gold lifted his hand, cupping her cheek and admiring her beauty.

"Belle - " he started.

"What? You're going to say that you're a difficult man to love?" She asked a little harshly, remembering the excuse he had given her not to approach him all those years ago, but then, she breathed in and let the words that came from her heart slip out of her mind. "Adam, when we met, you were marked by pain. You were suffering in many, many ways, and I couldn't ask you to risk everything with me, when I knew the terrible things Milah did to you and to Neal. But the thing is, is that you owned me from that very first conversation." Belle bit her lip, placing her hand above his on her face. "We were right for each other, but we met at the wrong moment, for both of us."

"When we met, I was this bitter lawyer, seeking a meaning to this life and you were just the young girl who worked at the bookshop," Gold whimpered, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "Now, you're the bookshop owner."

"Now, I'm the bookshop owner," she agreed. "And you're no longer bitter."

Slowly bending, Adam bumped their noses together on his way to her mouth, before letting his lips mould to hers. It was a bittersweet brushing at first, but then, neither could say who did it first, but the pressure grew, and suddenly, hands were running over the other's body as Gold's tongue plundered her mouth, finding hers and massaging it. Belle threw her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, holding on to the feeling of being with the man she loved most - until her cell-phone rang.

"Damn it," Belle cursed, jumping and making Gold bite her lip. She grabbed the phone that was near her purse on the counter and looked at the name glowing on the screen. "It's Gideon."

"This boy has timing," Adam muttered under a difficult breath.

"He certainly does," she said, before pressing the button and lifting the phone to her ear. "Hey, sweetie."

"Hey mama, I just wanted to know if everything was ok," Gideon answered on the other end of the line.

Gold didn't seem to know what to do, but she grabbed his hand, stroking it and smiling as she heard their son. He caressed her fingers between his, kissing her knuckles, lost in thought. It was overwhelming having him kiss her, even without knowing what it was going to mean for them, but now, she was silently showing him. The phone call might have interrupted them, however, she didn't regret it and wanted to assure him of it.

"Mm, yeah, I just finished dinner."

"Oh, that's good." Gideon replied. "We are having pizza."

"So, is August a cool guy?"

"Actually yes, he was talking about the new motorcycle he bought and promised to show it to us later. He is fun."

"I'm glad to hear that," Belle said.

To hear what? Gold's thoughts echoed. He didn't know August very well, only had seen the boy some times while Neal was at college, but he didn't seem to be bad, he only hoped that it didn't mean that they were going to be back before he could resolve this situation with Belle, because they couldn't just leave things this way.

"Well, see you later," Gideon remarked.

"See you later, darling," she replied, to Adam's relief.

"Is everything alright with the boys?" He asked, seeing her look down at the screen.

"Yeah, it's just Gideon being overprotective again," Belle smiled, before showing him her most hopeful glance, "but I think I can turn off my phone if you only tell me it is no longer the wrong moment."

He sighed, rubbing her arm and fighting internally with his own will and the meaning of her words. "I don't know if I'll ever know when the right one is."

"Perhaps you're right," she whispered, palming her hands to his chest and leaning in to kiss him. "What do you say if we start with now and see where it takes us next?"

That little flicker of passion in her eyes was enough to make him forget all his good sense. The boys would be out until later, and there was nothing preventing them from going through with this.

"I'd say that the kitchen is not proper to start our 'now'."

Her smile grew bigger, remembering how he had said the same thing on their very first night together, but referring to the couch instead of the kitchen. She took his hand, gesticulating to the staircase.

"I was expecting you to say that."

* * *

 _ **Note 2:** I'm so sorry for the delay, but the next one to be updated is The Dark Children and then, Lost And Found. As for The Bookshop Owner, we are close to the end to this fic! I just hope you all are enjoying reading as much as I'm enjoying writing. Thank you for keeping up until now!_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Author's Note:** This chapter was revised by my amazing beta Ethereal Wishes._

* * *

When Neal and Gideon arrived, the house was drawn in silence, all the lights turned off. The brother's tiptoed inside. Neal went straight to his room, and Gideon stopped at Belle's door first. He opened it slowly, as not to wake his mother, but found it empty.

Looking up at the staircase that led to Gold's room, he knew that he would certainly find his mother inside there and sighed, closing the door and making his way to his own bedroom. This was bad, he thought, really, really bad and that was what he had been fearing this whole time. But if he kept his mind working, he wouldn't even be able to close his eyes that night, so he pulled on his pajamas, reached for his headphones, and put on some loud music that would distract him from thinking about the disaster they were heading into.

* * *

Belle hadn't had such a great night of sleep since before Gideon was born, but exhausted as she was after their late-night activities, she passed out in Gold's arms and only awoke when the sun had already rose. She yawned, stretching a little before looking up at Adam, smiling at how gorgeous he looked that way, with his long hair a bit mused, and the soft skin of his chest exposed for her to dust the tip of her finger over it.

"Hey you," she said in a sleepy voice. "How long have you been staring at me?"

"Not long," Gold confessed with a smirk, brushing his fingers down her bare arm. "I just wanted to be sure that this is not a dream."

Smiling lazily at him, Belle propped herself up on her elbow, reaching over to kiss his lips, running her hand through his hair. She was still feeling a little overwhelmed from being his once again, and every moment of the night prior had been so incredibly blissful, that she wished she could repeat it all over again - from the laughs they had shared, to the insecurities and the passion that had taken them. It was perfect in its own imperfect way and that was what made the moment even more special.

"If last night was a dream, then I want to stay asleep forever," she whimpered against his lips.

He touched her brow tenderly, lost in her blue depths. "I'm not sure if I said it when I should, but I love you, Belle. I have never stopped loving you."

"Neither have I," Belle muttered back, "this weekend has been perfect, but you still owe me two things."

"And what is it?"

"First, you need to pull on those clothes I got for you," she said with a smirk, already imagining dragging him around the beach in jeans and that black Hawaiian shirt. It would be delightful and hilarious at the same time, and she would have enough reasons to feel joyful for next few months. "Second, you just have to tell me why you looked so bored on the roller coaster."

Adam rolled his eyes. "I didn't look bored."

"You didn't even scream!" Belle exclaimed.

"There was no need for screaming, sweetheart," he assured her. "And if you want to know about somebody's problem, you should have asked the kids on the kart behind us."

At this remembrance, Belle bursted into laughter hiding her face in his chest. After she and Gold had settled themselves on the kart, a bunch of teenagers had entered the rollercoaster, speaking and guffawing out loud as they took the seats behind them. It was an eight-people group, all together, happy and carefree, almost inspiring with such a cheeriness they emanated, but then the song started, an old one from a well-known movie, being repeated over and over again as the rollercoaster made its course, stopping only when the kids had to scream with the speed of the karts, specially at the loop.

Gideon had turned around once or twice with a confused and annoyed look that mirrored perfectly his father's expression, and Belle decided that her boys were definitely two grumps.

"Oh, they were having such a fun," she contemplated, looking up at him.

His eyebrows narrowed and he whined as if he was a child: "They were singing the whole damn way!"

"You were a teenager once," Belle remarked.

"Yeah, but I would have never done such a thing," he scoffed.

And given the fact that he had sat still by her side during the entire course of the rollercoaster, she couldn't say that she didn't believe him. Belle had been looking forward to the moment he was going to give in and scream like she and the others had done, but the only thing that showed that Gold had in fact felt any adrenaline was the way he gripped tightly at the security bar in front of them.

"Keep talking like that, but I'll find your weakness," she promised. "There must be something in this world that makes Adam Gold lose his nerve."

"Good luck trying to find it," he shrugged with a smug smile appearing on his lips.

"I will."

Palming her cheek, Gold leaned in to brush his lips against hers, softly at first, but then so voracious that she thought they might repeat the events from the previous night, but he pulled away before it could go any further. Adam looked gorgeous and breathless, and she wanted him with every fiber of her being, but he muttered: "I think I may take a bath."

"Go on," Belle said, knowing that it was for the best, as the boys were probably home by now. "I'll dress and go back to my room to do the same in five minutes."

He nodded, slipping out of the bed to go to the en-suite bathroom. Belle watched him until he disappeared inside, and she sighed, snuggling against his pillow, smelling the remnants of his cologne on it, her eyes closing as she was still a little tired, and before she knew it, she'd fallen back asleep.

Her nap probably would have lasted until Gold finished his shower and had dressed himself, but his phone started to ring on the nightstand and it woke her up, making Belle reach for it by the moment the call ended. The name glowing on the screen said that he had a missed call from someone named Cora. She was about to put it back on the nightstand and start to look for her clothes on the floor when a message came up and, she accidentally clicked to open it, gasping at the contents of it. All the insinuations, and descriptions making her heart race with sadness.

"Adam?" She called, and he opened the bathroom door, wearing only a pair of trousers. Belle lifted the phone to him, sitting on the bed, gripping the covers tightly around her body. "Who is Cora?"

"Oh, damn it," he cursed, taking the phone from her hands.

Tears came to Belle's eyes as she muttered: "You have someone."

"No, sweetheart," Adam began. "I can explain."

But she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear, so Belle pushed the covers away and gathered her clothes from the floor, dressing herself as quickly as possible.

"That you planned on using me for the weekend then go back to your - " she couldn't even find a word to categorize that woman. She had no idea what she was to Gold, only knew that she was a disgusting person for the disgusting words she had written on that message, " _Cora_ in Scotland?"

"Belle, you misunderstood everything!"

"Have I?" She asked bitterly, feeling the tears fall from her eyes as she closed her dress' side zipper. "Because her message was pretty explicit."

"Sweetheart, please - " Adam begged.

She blinked, trying to see behind the blurry of tears in her eyes, but everything she could think about was that she had been fooled and her heart was being shattered into tiny pieces inside her chest now, because she had been stupid enough to give herself to him so easily. What was she thinking? How was she able to be so careless?

"I'm taking the train and going back to London with my son," Belle announced before opening the door and leaving the room.

Walking downstairs in the direction of her room, Belle ran into Gideon, stumbling with her son and almost making both of them fall to the floor, but the boy kept his balance and held her. Neal was right behind him and looked at them with wide eyes.

"Mama?" He asked. "Mama, what happened?"

Biting at her lip, she found herself unable to explain, all she could do was to mumble a command. "Pack your things, I'll only take a bath and then we'll be on our way."

Gold appeared in the hallway barefoot, cane in hand and a half-buttoned shirt tucked into his trousers. He looked desperate, but Gideon didn't want to know how he was feeling at that moment, everything that mattered to him was the fact that because of him, his mother was crying.

"What have you done to her?" He demanded.

"Nothing!" Gold hurried to speak. "Please, let me explain!"

"Oh, pop, what did you say?" Neal questioned.

The elder brother couldn't begin to imagine what his father had done to ruin everything he had been working for, but by the expression on Belle's face, he bet it was pretty bad. Neal didn't understand what was the problem with the universe that kept his father from being happy, but he knew that didn't cooperate to make things better himself.

"It wasn't me," Adam said, full of despair, lifting his old phone for his boy to see, "just a message from Cora."

"Cora?" Neal repeated harshly, as if the name left a bad taste in his mouth, because he knew that despicable woman pretty well, and he was sure that everything that came from her could only be a wicked plot to make his father's life worse. "Hey, Belle look at me. Cora is his freaking evil partner at the law firm. Whatever she said in that message it is not true. She is angry with my father, because he rejected her."

"Is that true?" She asked in a broken voice.

Gideon was looking at Neal, like his glance had the power of setting him on fire, but at the moment, he didn't care about what his younger brother thought about his intentions. It had become very obvious last night when they arrived at the house, that Gold and Belle were sharing a bedroom, and he had internally celebrated the fact that it might be actually working, and there might still be a chance for the two of them after all. His father had sacrificed many years of his life for him, and now Neal was waiting for him to achieve some happiness.

"Aye," Adam agreed, taking a step in her direction, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Belle, I can take you to Glasgow today if you want to. I can introduce you to everyone I know. I can take you to my office and reassure you that there is nothing between this woman and I."

"I'm sorry," Belle whispered, wiping her tears. "I - I guess I'm just afraid that you'll leave again."

"If I do, you'll be by my side." he reassured her, wrapping her in a tight hug.

Belle sobbed and threw her arms around his neck, making Gold lean against the wall to keep himself upright as he let his cane clatter to the floor to hug Belle tightly, bending to capture her lips in a heartfelt kiss.

"I'm a genius!" Neal gasped, attempting to fish his phone from his pocket. "I need to tell Emma."

"This is gross," Gideon complained with a grimace, looking away from his parents and breathing in, knowing that from now on he would have to accept the fact that his mother was dating his father. There was nothing in the word that could sound creepier or make him more uncomfortable, but he turned to face his half-brother with a small grin on his lips. "But well, good work Annie, your plan was a success. Now if he breaks my mother's heart, I'll break your face."

"Why so violent? And I'm Hallie, by the way, _you're the_ Londoner one."

Rolling his eyes, Gideon moved in the staircase's direction, grumbling: "I'm getting out of here before they do something that I cannot unsee."


	16. Chapter 16

_**Author's Note:** This chapter was revised by the wonderful Ethereal Wishes._

 _I'm so sorry for the delay with this fic, but it is almost ending, just another two chapters to go now, so thank you all for your patience and your support. Sending all my love for each one of you that has been reading this fic._

* * *

Gold knew that things could change quickly, what was bad could be turned into something good, just like what seemed to be too good to be true could turn disastrous. It seemed to happen frequently in his life, but any previous circumstances could not have prepared him for what had happened that morning. Almost losing Belle again after they just shared such beautiful moments forced him to make a crucial decision. He wasn't going to let go of her ever again and he would conquer their son's love, no matter what.

After Belle was calmer and had went back to her room, so she could shower, he finished properly dressing himself, going straight downstairs where he knew that he would find the boys. The first one he saw was Neal, standing next to the door, his cell phone pressed against his ear. He waved briefly when he saw Gold. Adam went to the kitchen, leaning on his cane, finding Gideon tapping his fingers anxiously against the counter while he waited for the coffee pot to finish its work.

"Gideon?"

The boy turned around but remained expressionless, as the machine started to beep madly, and he took the pot from it, reaching for the mugs. "Coffee?" His son asked casually.

Snorting, Gold sauntered over to him, observing how his movements were almost mechanical, as if he was in pilot mode. He knew Gideon didn't want him anywhere near Belle, and the earlier confrontation between them only served to make him dislike his father even more, which may have erased all the progress they had made yesterday.

"I was actually thinking that we could take a walk together and talk," Adam suggested. "We need to."

Gideon shook his head. "I'm not up to it, Gold."

"Please, son," he begged, "if not for me, then for your mother."

At those words, Gideon froze, his hands stalling to fill a mug with the coffee he had prepared. Last night he had agreed to go visit August with Neal to give his mother a chance to make her own decisions, judging if Gold was worth her forgiveness or not, and if she should give him a second chance. Now he was blaming her blind faith and love for the bad situation she was probably placing herself in, no matter what his brother had said.

Sighing, he left the coffee pot on the counter and turned back to stare at his father.

"What's your affiliation with that woman, Cora?"

"Neal already explained it," Gold shrugged.

He had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes at him, because Neal had an explanation for literally everything, so he wasn't buying into every word his older brother spouted. Neal was basically playing the great cupid around the two of them, which was truly annoying.

"So, was it true?"

"Of course, it was," Gold assured him, touching his arm, and Gideon had to restrain the urge to evade his touch. "Gideon, I have no reason to lie, please come take a walk with me and let's talk."

Breathing in, he thought about saying no and going to check on his mother again, but Gideon knew that if he didn't give him a chance now, his pride would probably keep him from doing so forever, so instead, he nodded.

"Around the neighbourhood, not any further than that," the boy retorted.

A huge smile appeared on Gold's face. "Alright."

They talked to Neal before leaving, saying that the were going to take a short walk and should be back soon. Gideon wasn't sure about why Neal wanted them to be a big happy family, and he started to wonder if his half-brother had ever tried to get his own parents back together and failed. Maybe that was the reason he wanted so desperately for his father's relationship with Belle to be successful.

There were people doing morning hikes around the neighbourhood, some mothers pushing strollers with tiny chubby babies inside and kids playing in their yards. They were in a residential borough, very different from the one Gideon had grown up in back in London, their flat wasn't far from the bookshop and was located on a street full of tiny stores.

He thought it might have been great having a childhood like this, in a big house with a family that was so united that it appeared unrealistic. But it was just a stupid fantasy that only had came to his mind because he was thinking about how his brother's life might not have been perfect either. Nobody's life was.

"Listen, son, your mother and I - " Gold attempted to speak as they had reached the end of the block.

"I truly prefer not to hear any details about my mother and you," Gideon said with a disgusted face, but he couldn't help asking: "Are you two dating now?"

"We are engaged, and I don't intend to ruin things again," his father guaranteed. "But I want you to be ok with it and so does your mother."

The very first thing he thought was how incredibly ridiculous it sounded for them to have apparently settled things down after just one night. People dated for a reason, they did it to get know each other, to see if their goals in life were the same or at least if they were willing to cope with the other's desires. But then it came to his mind that his parents had totally skipped the dating part ever since their first meeting, unless that movie counted as a date. They had done everything pretty quickly.

"I don't want her to end up heartbroken again," Gideon whispered.

"She won't, I promise you that she won't."

"You say that, but you were together only for a couple of hours, and you already made her cry."

Gideon didn't mean to be cruel; he was actually just trying to be funny this time, but it didn't come out the way he expected. He wasn't good at these types of things, even his friends knew when he tried to be funny that he could end up sounding moody. Roderick and Grace always ended up laughing about it, but his father wasn't that type of person, and he seemed to have taken it quite seriously.

"It wasn't my fault and it won't happen again," Gold said defensively, as if it were a promise. "Can you tell me something about you? About what you like or dislike? About your friends?"

Taking a moment to think, a half-smile appeared on his lips as he said, "I cosplayed as Kylo Ren at a con last year."

"Oh," Gold mumbled and Gideon guffawed, making a frown appear on his face. "What are you laughing at?"

"Mama said you hate Star Wars," the boy answered, still laughing. "I couldn't resist."

Gold rolled his eyes.

"Can you say something real?"

"I - " Gideon stammered, but he wasn't actually sure if he should keep going with this, because it was really personal, and he'd only shared the fact with a few people. He knew that his father should be the person to know, but his heart beat rapidly, thinking he should speak again, but he did it anyway. "Alright, if you really want to be a part of my life, I bet this is a good place to start," he said, taking a deep breath before confessing: "I have a boyfriend."

"A boyfriend?" Gold swallowed, not knowing if he had in fact understood the words that left his son's mouth. "You're dating another boy?"

"Yeah," the boy muttered, clearly nervous.

That was when Gold realised how much his approval mattered to him. Of course, Gideon was uneasy right from the start and his pride was just like his was, too big to give in to. Belle was right; they were alike, even though they hadn't known each other long and that only made him regret not being a part of his boy's first sixteen years of life.

"Does your mother know?" Was the only thing he could manage to say.

Gideon rolled his eyes. "Why does everybody think I'm keeping this secret from her?"

A small laugh left him. He had no problem with Gideon's choices in love matters as long as it made him happy, because he was never the kind of person that judged others for those things. That didn't mean he wasn't surprised, of course, as he had never faced something like this before.

"I don't know, I'm sorry," Gold replied. "Do you... Mm, do you love him?"

"I think it is too soon for me to know that, but I do like him a lot," Gideon said with a shrug.

It was funny that the child he never known wasn't actually a child anymore and was talking about love interests with him. That wasn't the vacation he was planning when he decided to fulfil Neal's wishes and make this trip to London, but he wouldn't trade it for the world.

"That's good," Adam said with a grin. "The feel of love comes when you are not expecting it, you just look at this person and suddenly your heart feels like it will burst."

By his side, the boy blinked. "So, you're ok with it?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? We are in a modern world and I'm no idiot. As long as you're happy, I'm happy."

Relief washed over Gideon's face as well as his heart, because telling people that he was gay was never an easy thing, and he would never stop fearing their reaction, but it being about his own father made things even scarier. If his mother was going to date him, and they were going to spend more time together then it was good to know that he was accepted for who he was.

"Well, thank you, father."

"What's his name?" Gold returned.

The thought of not answering passed through Gideon's mind, but a smile was already eclipsing his lips at the remembrance of the dark-haired boy whose company he so adored, and Gideon ended up giving in.

"Roderick."

"Can I meet him?" Gold asked.

"Oh, Jesus, this is too soon, alright?" Gideon answered, exasperated. "Too soon for everything, watch out for your own relationship for now."

"Alright, son."

Mindlessly, the boy placed an arm around his father's shoulders and assisted him, turning around so they could head back to the house. Gold leaned on his cane, smiling at this small gesture, because it was something so common, but for them was still so new, another step forward for both father and son.

"Let's go back then, or your leg might start aching."

* * *

When they arrived back at the house, Belle was wandering around the living room, appearing nervous and preoccupied, her fingers pressing together mindlessly, until she finally heard the the front door being opened, nearly jumping out of her skin, in a hurry to meet Adam and Gideon. She stopped at the hallway, blinking in surprise at the scene before her, because her son was in fact holding the door open for his father, with the tiniest of the smiles on his face, as Gold passed through it.

Belle thought her eyes were betraying her, because just that morning Gideon was terribly angry with him, for the way she'd been crying and making accusations over Cora's text message, and now they were here, appearing to be cheerful around each other. Walking towards them, she hugged Gideon with all the strength she had, surprising him; he returned the hug after a second.

"Hi, mama," the boy giggled.

"Hey," she answered, "Neal said you two had gone for a walk."

"Yeah," Gold confirmed and his expression was so joyful that she wanted to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him.

Yet, she chose to lay her head on their son's chest, caressing his back as she offered her free hand for Adam to take, which he did without hesitation, gently caressing her fingers.

"Astonishing," Belle remarked.

Gideon placed a kiss on the top of her head, releasing himself from her embrace, and nodding with a little smirk. "I'll call Rod, right?"

"Go on."

They observed as he made his way to the staircase, observing their boy's movements until he disappeared from their sight, and Adam's gaze turned back to her.

"He has a boyfriend," Gold remarked.

"He does," Belle nodded, biting down on her lip. "Are you ok with it?"

She hadn't even though about telling him, because after everything that had happened, it seemed to be a trivial thing in the back of her mind. Belle never had to deal with telling people her son was gay, mostly because she wasn't very sociable, and the ones she cared for already knew it from the very start, except for her father whom she thought she would never see again, and Adam, who was standing there with an arched eyebrow, shaking his head to show that this was of no concern to him.

"Aye, I don't think I have the right to give any opinion, but I just want him to be happy."

Belle released a breath of relief, knowing that Gold would always love their son regardless, just another reason she'd wished he had shared their son's entire childhood with them.

"Look, I know Gideon is not being easy on you, but he only needs time. You'll see that deep down, he is the sweetest boy in this world."

"I already believe he is," Gold said, grabbing Belle by the waist, bringing her closer until he could lock lips with her. "What would you say if you and me went out to dinner tonight?"

"I would love to, Adam," carding her fingers through his hair as something occured to her, "but I have one condition."

"What is it?"

Her smile turned into a wicked one, and she approached him, brushing her lips against his stubble, tracing his jawline delicately until she reached his ear to whisper: "You will use the clothes I got for you."

"Belle..." He protested.

"Please!" She squealed.

That was the last thing Adam wanted to do, but Belle looked so beautiful, so pleading, that the words were nearly slipping out of his mouth against his own will. God, he loved that woman with every fibre of his being.

"Sweetheart, I'll look ridiculous."

"No! You won't," Belle shook her head, giving him puppy eyes. "Please do it for me."

Gold sighed. "You better make it worth the effort."

A glimmer appeared in her eyes as Belle ran her hands down his chest, toying with the buttons on his waistcoat, tracing them upward again, gathering her fingers around his tie.

"Oh, babe, I will."


	17. Chapter 17

_**Notes:** This chapter was revised by my sweet beta Ethereal Wishes._

 _So there is just one more chapter to go! I'm really, really thankful for everybody who has been reading this fic and I would like to tell you guys that I'll be posting a one-shot related to this work once it is finished, the missing smut scene between Gold and Belle, which for now I'm calling "Secrets of a Night in Brighton."_

* * *

Belle was restyling her hair in front of the mirror. She thought it was satisfactory until she gazed in the mirror. She grimaced at the way it fell around her shoulders in a tangled disarray. Pulling it all up in a ponytail, Belle made a groaned at how it made her look young and naive, so she tried to pin the sides back, but it was too common for her.

Snorting, Belle opened her purse, looking for the right hair clasps and made a simple bun. It was not the best she ever looked, but they were in Brighton, in the middle of one of the hottest springs England had ever faced, so all she could do was to be comfortable enough not to sweat and ruin her make up. Straightening her white dress, she turned around to see if she could find one of the boys to talk to her and distract her from her thoughts when she saw Gold appear on the staircase. Her heart skipped a beat at the amazing sight of him. He was still wearing his tennis shoes, and the jeans and black Hawaiian shirt accented him so well. If she could, she would make him wear it once a week.

Adam smirked, leaning on his cane. Belle offered him help to go down the rest of the steps and encircled his waist with her arms, giving him a quick kiss.

"Satisfied?" Gold asked.

"Delighted," Belle answered.

A guffaw interrupted them at other end of the hallway, and they turned around to see Neal and Gideon attempting to stifle their laughter at the image of their father out of his three-piece suits for the first time in his life. The oldest boy plucked his phone from inside his pocket, lifting it and clicking on the camera icon.

"I need a picture!" Neal exclaimed.

"What?" Gold arched an eyebrow. "We are teenagers going off to a ball now?"

"Come on, papa, just a picture," the boy insisted, making Adam sigh as he positioned himself near Belle. "I'll make a copy of it to put on your office door."

"I want one, too," Gideon interjected.

Gold rolled his eyes. "Alright, you boys have had your fun, now Neal has money for pizza, and I don't want anybody playing with any motorcycle when August arrives."

Neal had suggested that morning to invite August over while Gold and Belle went on their date, so they could continue their conversations from last time and take another look at the motorcycle that had them astonished. Adam had thought at first that that was a good idea, because it meant the boys would be interacting, which was always great, and they probably wouldn't have any argument in front of a friend, but when he stopped to better analyze it, he started to imagine them riding around the neighborhood. Gold decided that it might not be a perfect plan.

"Bye, papa!" His oldest son said, gesticulating in the direction of the front door.

"I'm serious, Neal," Gold insisted, "those things are dangerous."

Belle grabbed his hand, dragging him through the hallway with narrowed eyes. "Adam, let's go."

"But they - "

"Are not children, alright?"

"Alright," he muttered, defeated as they left the house and halted in front of the rented car. "I don't believe I've told you how stunning you look today."

A blush bloomed to her cheeks, Belle glanced at the ground shyly, so much like the nineteen-year-old girl he met so long ago, that time could very well have not passed at all.

"Well, thank you," she beamed.

He opened the door for her, letting Belle settle inside, before slipping in his seat in front of the steering wheel, resting his cane by his side as he prepared to start driving. Belle watched him out of the corner of her eye during their ride through the city, enjoying the view she was certain she was only going to see once in her life. Gold had been the one to propose going out for the night, but she had been the one to organize it all, despite of all his protests, and Belle was especially excited for their night, because it was the first time she'd planned something special for just yhe two of them.

When the car stopped in front of their destination, she indicated and Belle opened the door, grabbing Gold's hand to dragging him down the street. She delighted herself with the puzzled glances he granted her. Belle smirked as she pushed open the door of an old pub, going straight to an empty table for two. It was remarkable to Adam how much he was feeling displaced as he pulled up a chair and sat adjacent from her.

"Why not a fancy restaurant?" he questioned. "I could pay for it."

"You're in England," Belle bounced, "we are going to have a proper date in a pub."

Giving her a curious glance, Gold mindlessly twisted his cane in one hand, causing Belle to hold in a breath at how gorgeous he was at that moment, a half-smile played on his lips, eyes narrowing as he studied her.

"There are pubs in Scotland too, dearie."

"One night," Belle said slowly, "for one night, you will be just as any other British person."

"Alright," he gave up, "you're in command tonight."

They ordered white wine and french fries to start, which wasn't something Gold thought complimented each other, but he started eating anyway, because that was what Belle wanted and as long as he was in her company, everything was perfect. It didn't mean he wasn't feeling weird about the clothes he was wearing, in that specific place with the alternative music and boisterous crowd.

"This is the most awkward day of my life," he mumbled after taking a sip of his wine.

Belle blinked her lashes in the sweetest way she could. "But it is worth it, isn't it?"

"Totally, sweetheart."

"Tell me something about your life."

"I have had a quite a boring life since the last time we saw each other," Adam shrugged. "I worked in the same place the last seventeen years, only gathering some new partners. Cora is one of them."

A frown appeared on her face, she seemed to be uncomfortable but asked anyway: "What is your full story with that woman?"

Gold took a long deep breath, before speaking, because he knew Belle might not like what she was going to hear. He wasn't proud of his story with Cora either.

"I contracted her two years ago, because she is a heck of a lawyer, she always wins," he began. "She showed a weird interest in me right from the start, but I tried to ignore it, then one day when I was feeling especially lonely, I slept with her, my biggest mistake. For me it was just a one-night stand, for her it was like the beginning of a relationship, then when I rejected her, she started to do everything she could to make my life difficult."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Belle said emphatically, clasping his hand securely in her own. "Some relationships suck."

"Oh, it wasn't even a relationship, but it served for me to learn my lesson and never make that mistake again," Adam said, gazing into her beautiful blue iris, smiling at how understanding she was, but deep down, he always knew Belle was the best listener he'd ever had the pleasure to meet. She was what he had spent a lifetime looking for, and he couldn't let her go again. "Well, now I won't need to, because from now on, all I wish for is a life with you."

"I do too, but..." she started, biting down her lip. "But how are we going to do this? I mean, we live in different countries."

Caressing her fingers that were still interlaced with his, Gold knew if they hadn't had a table between them, he would already be kissing her about now. Belle was fearful of how things might end, and she clearly didn't see a solution for their current situation; he didn't even know if she truly believed they could make it, but he wanted her forever, and he would give up everything to have her.

"You know how much I love Scotland, however I'm willing to leave it behind and move to England."

Belle raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Are you?"

"I am," he nodded in confirmation.

The expression on her face was priceless, so happy and worried at the same time, but it seemed to be Belle French through and through, even when she was being her bravest. However, it was what made her special, as she always overcome her fear, without having full knowledge of what she was about to do.

"I have the tiniest flat in the world," Belle pointed out.

"I believe there are plenty houses for sell in London. We can buy one."

A new kind of hope filled her eyes when she gasped: "Really?"

He laughed.

"Is that so difficult to believe that I want a life with you, Belle?"

"No, I'm just - " she sighed. "I feel like I'm dreaming, and I don't know would you leave your home."

Gold felt this was all was a dream he could wake up from at any moment, but after all the things they had faced to be there that night, he thought they deserved happiness. There were many reasons he couldn't have been there for Belle and his son during the last seventeen years, and it would be incredibly selfish if he asked them to leave their lives in London behind to move to Scotland with him. Plus, it wasn't the best way of mending things with Gideon, because he knew the boy would probably oppose to move away from his school, friends, and boyfriend.

"I can guarantee you that this is no dream, and I'm the one moving, because I want to do this."

Belle stretched herself to reach for him and locked their lips together, a promise that the future would be beautiful.

* * *

After dinner, they went to the rocky beach, took off their shoes, from Belle's insistence and started a slow walk through the seawater, getting their feet wet. Gold let her hook her arm around his and lean on him just like he was leaning on his cane.

"So, after you move," Belle started, "what will happen with your job?"

"I can rent an office."

Inhaling deeply, the salty aroma which permeated the air, she looked over the length of the beach observing how some people were taking walks just like them or doing evening hikes. There was a quiet peace to the image, and she thought she could relish living in that moment if it wasn't for the fact she had so many insecurities, and a huge part of her kept insisting that at some point she would realize it was all a mistake.

But Belle didn't want it to be, she wanted to be with the man she loved, and simply be grateful they had been given a second chance.

"You have a solution for everything, huh?"

"Not everything," Gold replied with a small laugh. "I wasn't able to convince you that you didn't need me to wear these clothes."

Belle chortled, because as much as he loathed the jeans and the whole idea of black Hawaiian shirts, she thought it was incredible and maybe the fact that he hated it all just made her love it even more. One of the things she most adored about him, was how cute he looked when was uncertain about something.

They kept walking in silence, taking calculated steps and feeling the rocks underneath the water scratching their feet, but not caring at all. Belle was attentive of every sound on the beach and for once, she wasn't hurrying to get home after a date, nor thinking if Gideon was fine without her, because now he had an older brother to take care of him, and she was in company of someone she didn't want to leave, so when she heard the first notes of the melody behind them, she stopped walking.

"Listen," Belle whispered.

"What?"

"Music!" She pointed out, happily recognizing a song she knew by heart. "It's coming from the pier!"

Gold nodded in agreement. "Beautiful music."

An idea occurred to her, and Belle stretched a hand to him with a proposal on the tip of her tongue and a new glow in her eyes. "Will you dance with me?"

"In the middle of the water?" Gold questioned, gazing around.

"Only our feet are touching the water, your fool!"

Rolling his eyes, Gold dropped his cane a little further where the waves weren't reaching the rocks to be able to position her in his arms, touching their foreheads together as they found a lazy rhythm to dance to.

"I love you, Belle French," he muttered.

"I love you too, Adam Gold."

As their lips met hungrily, teeth bumping against the other in the hurried pace to deepen the kiss, a thin rain started to fall, initially just a drizzle, but then it grew harder, immediately soaking them.

"It's raining!" Belle exclaimed.

"I can't believe it!" Gold replied looking angrily at his damp clothes.

She grabbed his cane from the rocky shore, dragging him away from the sea so they could pull on their shoes before she led him to the east.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"The pier," Belle explained.

So the couple gathered there, sheltering under the pier alongside more unfortunate people which decided to go to the beach at the wrong time just like them. And as they waited for the rain to stop, they sat side by side, watching the drops falling from the sky from one of the shops, another song played on.

"This is what 'now' looks like," Belle French concluded.

* * *

Neal wasn't paying much attention at what was happening outside the house, but he had gone to the kitchen to grab a beer for August and occasionally looked through the windows at the rain, and that was when he saw something definitely out of picture.

"Gideon," he called, "look at this!"

The younger brother came from the living room and halted by Neal's side, directing his glance to where he was pointing. Outside the house, the car they rented in London was parked again, and in the middle of what seemed to be a summer storm were the silhouette of two bodies, joyfully moving together in some kind of unique dance.

"Is it my mother and Gold?"

"So it seems," Neal laughed. "Now, you have to admit, I'm a genius and my plan was brilliant."

Gideon made a grimace. "I think we should discuss this in a couple of months, brother, and if they're still together, then I'll admit it."

"Deal. But if they are together a year from now, you own me fifty pounds."

"Fifty pounds?" Gideon repeated. "Yeah, alright, I think we do have a deal."


	18. Chapter 18

**_Notes:_** _Hello, beautiful people, I'm so sorry for the delay, but the final chapter is here!_

 _Thank you so, so much for your patiance with me and for keeping up with this fic during all this time. It means a lot!_

* * *

 _Two months later._

The tiny Londoner flat was practically empty. Most of the furniture had been donated, the clothes and other objects, boxed to be taken to the French's new house, which also belonged to the Gold's. Belle, however couldn't find the right will inside herself to sell the apartment where she lived for long years of her life, because she had lots of good memories attached to it, her son had grown inside those walls and it would be just unfair to get rid of a place that was her home for such a long time, so even agreeing to move out, she kept the flat, putting it up to a site so it could be rented.

Adam had kept his promise, when they came back from Brighton, he dropped Belle and Gideon home, saying he would do everything he must in Scotland and then would be right back to never leave. When she kissed him goodbye, Belle had a feeling that she might never see him again, just like the last time they parted ways, but a message came up to her phone in the next day later, in which Gold informed that he had arrived home just fine and were already looking for properties in London.

The next morning, she took back her routine. Belle had no fantasy that things would miraculously work out for them and she knew somebody still had to bring food home, so she continued to sell books and occasionally took some time to go to a pub with Ruby and Jefferson to share with them all the details about the best weekend of her life. But it was during a certain Saturday morning, that she realised her life was really going to change.

It was a rainy day and lots of tourists had come to the bookshop, even though the weather was not willing to help them being dry. She went behind the counter to unpack a box of new books that had arrived in the day prior when she heard his voice.

"Your lunchtime is still by noon?" Adam Gold asked and Belle squealed, turning around to throw her arms around his neck, almost making him lose his balance.

"You're here!"

"Of course, I'm here," he laughed. "Do you want to go get a look at our new house with me?"

Waving her head positively, Belle agreed, kissing him and only waiting until it was midday so she could close the bookshop and go with him. The new house was actually pretty near, also in the region of Chelsea, and she immediately imagined that she could keep going walking to work, without needing to take any buses or tubes. Belle laughed happily when he opened the front door, still overwhelmed by the fact he really had bought a house for them and was really moving from Scotland just so they could be together.

Now, however, inside the empty flat there was only Gideon, Grace and a bunch of boxes on the floor. He picked them one by one, piling them in the blonde girl's arms, before getting the last ones for himself.

"Is this the last box?" Grace asked, eyeing him as they stood up, holding them.

"Yeah," Gideon confirmed and they went out of the flat, heading to the elevator and pressing the button to make it work. "I never thought moving could be so tiring."

"Well, now you know," the girl snorted, when the elevator's doors opened again to allow them out and they made their way to Jefferson's truck that was already full of the French's stuff. Grace let the boxes fall inside and sighed in relief. "I thought Rod would come to help."

Gideon freed himself from the boxes he was carrying and turned around to see her. His mother was sat inside the truck, right in front of the steering wheel, just waiting so she could drive them to their new home, before returning the car to its owner.

"He came yesterday, but as my parents are insisting in having dinner with us and my brother's fiancée, then I told him to stay home and prepare himself to papa Gold's questions."

If he had to admit, Gideon would say he was actually hoping Roderick wouldn't show up at the restaurant that night, because the last thing he wanted was to lose his boyfriend because his father and brother said the wrong thing. He didn't know how exactly everything could go wrong but he was betting that neither of them knew what they were doing. With his mother, things had been unexpectedly easy, because Belle already knew Roderick for a long time and she was very accepting too.

There wasn't a question coming from her, when Gideon told Belle that he was dating Roderick, she just said that if he wanted, he could call the boy to come over have some pizza with them and they ended up laughing a lot while watching the newest movie of an action trilogy. Now, Gideon just wished things to be that way again, but he knew they hardly would.

"Poor Roderick," Grace chuckled. "I wish you two all the luck in the world for tonight, because it seems you're going to need."

"Thanks, Gracie."

Gideon was about to say goodbye to her to finally enter the truck, when he heard the sound of a door being slammed shut and saw that his mother had gotten tired from all the waiting and was now walk in their direction.

"You finished?" Belle asked, taking a look at all the boxes inside the truck.

"Yes," he answered, folding his arms as he leaned against the vehicle. "Goodbye small old flat, hello giant house with more rooms than we actually need."

"Where is my golden smile?" His mother questioned stepping forward, so she could cup both his cheeks with that absurdly sweet motherly look, which made it impossible for him to keep being grumpy. "You should be happy!"

That wasn't the first thing he would choose to describe what he was feeling right now. Of course, he had nothing to truly complain about, the new house was big, he had a good bedroom with large windows and the complete family most kids wished for, but yet, he felt a little annoyed to see his parents kissing all the time, never leaving the other's side.

"Happy to live you with you and papa while you two look like newlyweds?" The boy inquired sarcastically, but then sighed and pulled her to a hug. "I'm just happy that you're happy, the rest I can manage by spending more time at school. I think I'll be doing an extra Math class this year."

"The number one drama king of London," Grace mumbled with a roll of her eyes.

In his arms, his mother chuckled and departed from him so she could look at Grace with a conspiracy smile. He was about to say some whiny things to them, when he saw a well-known figure coming from down the street.

"Belle!"

"Oh, hey, Jeff!" Belle smiled, waving at him. "You came to help us moving?"

"No," Jefferson said, placing both hands on his daughter's shoulders. "I actually just came to pic Grace and ask if you need some souvenirs for tonight."

He winked, knowingly, and Belle's cheeks turned bright red which got Gideon a little confused, looking between the two of them and trying to understand the joke they were secretly sharing.

"Dear God, Jefferson!"

"What is he talking about?" Gideon asked.

"Nothing! We are moving remember?" Belle immediately said, looking away and going back to the driver's door to open it. "Come on, we still need to pick Neal and Emma at the airport."

Still not understanding her behaviour, Gideon waved goodbyes at Jefferson and Grace, before entering the truck to go to his new house.

* * *

Even though Belle wanted them all to go to the restaurant from their new house, Neal and Emma had booked a hotel room for themselves and Gideon insisted in using the tube, since he intended to pick Roderick first and totally rejected the idea of his parents taking him to his boyfriend's place. Therefore, Gold and Belle arrived earlier and started to drink something, while they waited for the boys and their companions to arrive, sharing a small talk under the low lights of the restaurant.

The train took longer than Gideon expected, but he enjoyed the time he had to talk to Roderick, before they were surrounded by his curious and over-talking family. They were both well-dressed and slightly thankful for the fact that the warmth of the spring hadn't reached the night and a good soft breeze was blowing against their faces. Stopping in front of the restaurant's doors, the boys looked at each other, Gideon too reluctant to simply go on.

"Alright, so if you feel uncomfortable or if you just think this is all too much, then please tell me and we'll be out of here immediately."

"I have already told you that I'm not nervous," Roderick sighed. "There is nothing in this world that I would like more than meeting the rest of your family. Now _you, Gid,_ can relax."

"Sure," he muttered, pushing the door open and gesturing for his boyfriend to get inside.

His eyes wandered around the place, looking for his parents in the middle of that great amount of tables, until he recognized the petite silhouette elegantly sat in one stuffed chair, with the auburn curls falling down her shoulders to cover a part of her cream dress. She looked over her shoulder almost at the same time and stood up to come meet them.

"Finally!" Belle exclaimed hugging Roderick first, before moving to him. "Neal is late too, but at least you're here."

"Mama you look gorgeous," Gideon complimented her, giving his mother a soft smile as he analysed how perfectly the dress seemed to fit her and match her golden stilettos.

"Thanks, sweetie," she answered, flattered, before looking back at the man that was still sat by the table. "Adam this is Gideon's boyfriend, Roderick."

The dark-haired boy stretched a hand, offering a greeting to Gold, who took it with a kind smile.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"Nice to meet you too, my boy," Adam said, gesticulating to the empty chairs in front of him. "Sit down, we are just waiting for my older son and his fiancée."

Roderick took the seat by Belle's side, while Gideon took the one opposite to him, next to his father. None of them knew exactly what to do next, but all were clearly nervous and would give anything to make that awkward tension go away.

"Soda?" Belle asked, when a waiter came to ask if they wished to order something.

"Yeah, soda is great," Roderick muttered.

The waiter took the request and brought the soda a minute later, serving the boys before leaving. Belle glanced at Adam, narrowing her eyes and daring him to start a conversation, anything that would make that weird silence end.

"So," Gold cleared his throat, "how long have you two been dating?"

"Father!" Gideon coughed, blush coming to his cheeks.

"Not long," Rod answered at the same time.

That was the moment Gideon was fearing, when Gold decided to open his mouth to start the questions as if it was an interrogatory. He glanced at his mother for help, but the only thing Belle did was to move her shoulders uncomfortably.

Meanwhile, Gold kept going with his asks. "You met him at school?"

"We were friends for long," Roderick agreed.

Suddenly Belle stood up, some relief appearing in her face as she pulled on her biggest smile to welcome the remain members of their family.

"Neal is here!"

"Thank God," Gideon muttered.

Making their way towards them, were Neal Gold, which was surprisingly wearing a suit just like his father and his blonde girlfriend in her tight red dress. They looked just as uncomfortable as Gideon and Roderick, but way more cheerful.

"Hey, you all!" The older brother greeted, going straight to Rod's direction and offering him a hand-shake. "You must be Roderick, I'm Neal and this is my fiancée, Emma."

"Oh, hi."

Neal smiled at him and took the empty seat by Adam's other side as his fiancée sat right in front of him, shyly grinning at Belle.

"Are you enjoying London, Emma?" She asked.

"Yeah, I think the city is really beautiful," the blonde woman said. "I'm excited to be here and finally meet Neal's family, but you know, he sent me so many pictures of you all that I feel like I already know you."

From where he was, Gideon could see his brother was hiding a chuckle, but Gold noticed that too and although all of them knew Neal had spent that whole weekend with his cell-phone in hands, taking random pictures and texting his girl, he hadn't thought about what exactly that meant. At least, until now.

"Tell me you didn't send her _that_ picture," Adam begged his oldest son.

"The Hawaiian shirt one? Oh, it was hilarious!" Emma bounced with a laugh, however when her glance met his and she realised Adam was not just appearing to be ashamed, but also looked angry, her lips tightened in a thin line and she dropped her gaze to the table, trying to think about something that wouldn't leave him thinking she was a great idiot. "But you looked great, Mr. Gold."

"Yeah, I told him so, but the fool didn't believe me," Belle sighed, lifting the bottle that was in the middle of the table and gesticulating to Emma's glass. "White wine?"

" _Please_ ," the blonde begged.

* * *

It was late night, Neal and Emma had gone back to their hotel, Gideon was already home, as was Roderick, but Belle insisted they should stop by the bookshop. Truth be told, she didn't want the night to end just yet. After the momentary awkwardness of the beginning was overcome, they all had a good conversation, ate a great meal and found out it wasn't so difficult to get on with each other. Belle had enjoyed it, this special moment with all the people she loved, but she wasn't done with Gold yet.

She dragged him inside the bookshop and went behind the counter, kneeling to open the safe and take a small metal box from inside there.

"What do you want to show me?" Gold asked, looking around.

Standing up again, she placed the box above the counter, taking off the lid to reveal a bunch of stuff, from under which she took three little stamped pieces of paper.

"I was looking over some old things today and I have found these," Belle explained showing them to him.

Gold lifted an eyebrow. "Movie tickets?"

"Old ones," she remarked, biting down her lip. "These are the ones from the movie I saw with you and Neal all those years ago."

"God..." Adam muttered, eyes shining with excitement. "I can't believe you kept it."

"Neither do I," Belle admitted.

Placing the tickets back in place, she closed the lid of the box and took it back to the safe before moving until she was right by Adam's side and jumped up, sitting on the counter, then removed her high heels, giving her sore feet a little rest. Gold leaned closer, allowing her to gently run her hands down his hair, caressing his scalp and playing with the grey strands.

"Do you know why I bought this shop?" Belle asked, ponderously.

"I'm afraid not."

"It felt like home," she told him. "I've been through a lot of difficult times, but I managed to save some money along the years and when the guy who I worked for told me that he was going to sell it, I felt heartbroken, because this place was important to me, so I made an offer. A poor one, but believe it or not, he accepted and I got the place."

It had been some time since she last thought about the odd way she acquired the shop, but she was so glad she did, because Belle's whole life had been built around it and if it wasn't for that first job she got here, she had no idea of what would have happened with Gideon and her.

"So, you have never thought much about buying it?" Gold questioned with a frown. "You just did?"

"I love books," Belle shrugged. "I have always loved working here, so I thought 'why not'? Of course, taking care of it all by myself was a little bit more difficult than I could have imagined, but I think I did just fine."

Adam took her hand from where it was, still resting on his shoulder, wandering between his neck and hair, to place a kiss on it.

"You did," he assured her. "But I was thinking for a while now, about how easy it seemed to me to move to England and how acceptable most law firms were when I presented myself. I'm really happy in this new place where I'm working and I was wondering if _you_ are."

"I've just told you so."

"Aye, but you had dreams when we first met, you were in college and you let it all behind to take care of our son," Adam said, his voice full of guilty and regret. "Wouldn't you like to take a degree?"

Belle hold onto a breath for a second. She hated when he had this look on his face, like he was taking all the blame for everything that happened to them in the past and it took her a moment to switch from his self-loathing state to the dreams she had long forgot. When Belle came to London it was just for college, not to fall in love and certainly not to get pregnant. It was no surprise her father had immediately cut all her costs and refused to even finish paying for her time at the university. She had been reckless and irresponsible, she knew it.

For years, Belle worked with the hope that one day she would manage to go back to college and get her degree in Literature, but it just never happened and she was only glad to assure her son would have the opportunities she missed.

"I would, but I'm happy with what I have now."

Gold rolled his eyes and took an envelope from his jacket's inner pocket, giving it to her.

"Open it."

Doing so, she unfolded a piece of paper and let a gasp scape her, because there it was an admission letter from the same university she had been attending when she came to England. He had subscribed her to the Literature course.

"Adam..."

"You can go back, if you'd like," he remarked, his voice full of love and devotion that made her fall for him. "I will pay for it and I will find someone to take care of the bookshop for you while you study."

Casting the letter aside Belle pulled him in for a kiss, folding her legs around his waist to feel every inch of his body that she could, while her lips pressed hungrily against his.

"I love you," she murmured in his mouth.

"And I love you too," Adam confirmed, nuzzling his nose against her cheek. "Does this 'now' look like a good start for you?"

"Perfect," Belle said. "Just perfect."

And while they kissed each other again, a thin layer of rain started to fall outside the shop, but they didn't realise it until the next morning, when both finally left the bookshop, heading to their new lives.


End file.
